A team from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has developed a biosensor that can detect type 1 HIV during the first week after infection. In the experiments, performed on human serum, the biosensor detected the p24 antigen, a protein present in the HIV-1 virus. This new technology, which has been patented by CSIC, detects the protein at concentrations 100,000 times lower than in current techniques. In addition, the total test time is 4 hours, 45 minutes, meaning clinical results could be obtained on the same day.
The research is published today in the journal PLOS ONE. The biosensor combines micromechanical silicon structures with gold nanoparticles, both functionalised with p24-specific antibodies. At the end of the immunoassay procedure, p24 is sandwiched between the gold nanoparticles and the micromechanical silicon structures. The gold nanoparticles have optical…
