Shrink wrap used to enhance detection of infectious disease biomarkers

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These are close-up images of the new shrink wrap nanostructures taken with a scanning electron microscope. Each image depicts the shrink wrap’s surface with a fixed amount of nickel (5 nm) and different thicknesses of gold in the metal coating. The top is 10 nm thick. The middle is 20 nm thick. The bottom is 30 nm thick. The black arrows in the top image indicate a nanogap. Credit: Optical Materials Express Detecting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other deadly infectious diseases as early as possible helps to prevent their rapid spread and allows for more effective treatments. But current detection methods are cost-prohibitive in most areas of the world. Now a new nanotechnology method—employing common, everyday shrink wrap—may make highly sensitive, extremely low-cost diagnosis of infectious disease agents possible. The new technique, described in a paper published today in The Optical Society’s (OSA) journal Optical Materials Express, offers a way to significantly boost the signal of fluorescent markers used in biosensing, by depositing a combination of metals onto shrink wrap. “Using commodity shrink wrap and bulk manufacturing processes, we can make low-cost nanostructures to enable fluorescence enhancements greater than a thousand-fold, allowing for significantly lower limits of detection,” said co-author Michelle Khine,

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