Gold Nanosensors

Gold Nanosensors can now be implanted into the body to continuously monitor for blood clots. Gold Nanosensors are injected directly into the patient, allowing the doctor to measure protein concentrations by shining a laser light through the skin. This new technology will allow scientists to directly examine proteins and how they interact within a cell. Some of these proteins include ones that are involved in viral infections. 120 nanometers in diameter, the sensor consists of a silica core, encapsulated in a thin layer of gold. On top of the gold shell, are aptamers, or short strands of nucleic acids to bind to a specific molecule. When shining a laser on the aptamer, the molecule absorbs the light and will emit a characteristic spectrum allowing the doctor to view many different things. This new technology is not only cheap but it would provide easy monitoring for high-risk individuals and prevent clot-related deaths. Currently, research is being done at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Colin Campbell, a chemist at the University of Edinburgh leads the research. Researchers in Scotland have shown that the novel particles can accurately detect thrombin in blood samples, a biomarker for blood clots. For the time being there are not very many known aptamers that effectively target specific proteins. This is an area of medicine that would have to be further explored for the technology to gain more widespread application.

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/25031/page2/

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/gold-nanosensors-continuously-monitor-blood-clots