Posted July 8, 2015

 

By Seshadri Ramkumar

 

BENGALURU, India – Electrospun viruses may be biosensors of the future.

 

University of California-Riverside researchers Elaine Haberer and Nosang Myung have given a new twist to the electrospinning technique. Recent developments in this technology help in developing smoother, uniform fibers at faster and cheaper rates. Electrospun webs can serve as efficient cavities for an optical phenomenon known as “whispering gallery.” This phenomenon is useful for detecting signals efficiently.

 

In addition to creating electrospun cavities, the researchers incorporate different viruses while electrospinning. According to Haberer, viruses are proteins so they are more stable than enzymes and can pack more biosensor molecules.”

 

Electrospun fibers with viruses serve as better cavities for the “whispering galley” phenomenon to happen and function as biosensors.

 

According to Usha Varshney of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), there is a great demand for high-performance sensors that can detect many different biological molecules using small sample volume at faster and cheaper rates.

 

NSF funded the research at University of California-Riverside.

 

Seshadri Ramkumar, PhD, FTA (honorary) is a professor of Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech University.