Iranian Scientists Make Disease Detection Biosensor

Source : Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian scientists at Isfahan University synthesized biosensors with the ability to detect biological single mutation.

The biosensors can be used in the production of kits to diagnose various illnesses such as biological mutation ailments, in laboratorial industry, and in hospital equipment.

Sometimes a single mutation in a sequence of gene can cause illness. Biological mutation changes the structure of protein produced by the gene, and sometimes eliminates it. As a result, it causes disorder in biological phenomena in the body.

"The initial objective of the research was to produce a biosensor to detect biological single mutation with high accuracy in order to help diagnose of disorder in biological phenomena," Dr. Laleh Enayati Ahangar, a member of the research group, stated about the objectives of the research.

The use of gold nanoporous electrode and ferrocene covalent connection to the end of the detector DNA chain are among the characteristics of the project.

In this research, some modifications and changes have been made in order to analyze blood DNA samples taken from the patient. The results are in progress to be patented. In addition, the nanoporous surface of gold electrode in this research improved the sensitivity of the biosensor and increased the accuracy to diagnose genetic and other illnesses.

Results of the research have been published in October - December 2012 in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, vol. 38, issue 1. For more information, visit the full abstract of the article on pages 252-257 of the same journal.