NEW TECHNOLOGY: Sensor Detects Invisible Agents.
Research on a new sensing device able to simultaneously identify more than 3,000 biological materials shows great promise, says one of its developers, Ravi Saraf of Virginia Tech's chemical engineering department. Saraf, who holds 27 U.S. patents, hopes such a device will have multiple military and industrial applications, especially as concerns continue over the threat of terrorist attacks.A key advantage of this new sensor is its ability to detect a specific biological agent even if its trace amount is only one part per billion in a sample volume of air or water.
The new detector or biochip under development has an optical based system. Its designers have increased the sensitivity of what the chip can "see" or sense, consequently improving its response...