A Nanoscale Bean-Counter for Viruses

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A low-cost, disposable device for detecting viral infections would be a boon to many areas of public health, and there are many possible new devices in the works in laboratories across the country. In Portland, Jean-Luc Fraikin and Andrew Cleland of the University of California, Santa Barbara will describe the performance of one such device that counts streams of tiny nanoparticles passing through microfluidic channels.

The device measures the conductance of the samples passing through channels, and it counts individual particles using their electrical properties. The eventual idea is to chemically modify these nanoparticles so that they stick to blood components or virus particles. Then the device would be able to directly detect viral infections or directly measure the concentration of some essential component of the blood. Their eventual goal is to develop a diagnostic tool for detecting hepatitis C infections.

Related March Meeting Session

   Abstract: T12.00008 : Microfluidic high-throughput nanoparticle counter

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Headquartered in College Park, MD, the American Institute of Physics is a not-for-profit membership corporation chartered in New York State in 1931 for the purpose of promoting the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare.