Speedy, sensitive biosensor created
The biosensor can be used to detect drugs, toxins and pesticides for biomedical or environmental analysis. Image: -hakusan-/iStockphoto A whole new class of biosensor that can detect exceptionally small traces of contaminants in liquids in just 40 minutes has been developed by a UNSW-led team of researchers.Known as a biochemiresistor, it meets a long-standing challenge to create a sensor that is not only super-sensitive to the presence of chemical compounds but responds quickly. It has countless potential uses for detecting drugs, toxins and pesticides for biomedical or environmental analysis.In a paper published in the prestigious chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie the researchers describe how they successfully tested the new sensor by detecting tiny traces in milk of the veterinary antibiotic enrofloxacin. The journal has singled out the study for attention as a “Very Important Paper”. Only 5% of papers published by the journal are so designated.“Enrofloxacin is an antibiotic used in the agricultural...