Multi-channel sensors for nanoliter analytics

Biological and chemical analyses on tiny volumes allow a resource-efficient and much faster access to new knowledge in life sciences. In laboratories even today scientists need large equipment for solving these tasks. By miniaturization, such applications are feasible even in small mobile devices. This opens up many new opportunities for quality and safety monitoring in medical and pharmaceutical applications or along the food production chain.

A multi-channel measuring head for tests on sample volumes in the nanoliter range is currently being developed at CiS Research Institute within the framework of the European research project "SMARTER-SI" in cooperation with international partners.

The principle is based on the fluorescence and absorption measurements at an array of different enzyme pixels. The only 100 microns diameter small chemically sensitive pixels are analyzed by a switchable array of parallel beams, generated by a complex micro-optical system of LED chips, optical lens arrays and filters. The measured color response of the pixel allows the detection and determination of concentration of different substances in a fraction of a second. In the first application case, different allergens such as egg white, grains/nuts and mycotoxins in food or feed are analyzed. The concept can be applied to other applications in the field of microfluidics or ELISA analysis.

Contact: Uta Neuhaus, CiS Forschungsinstitut für Mikrosensorik GmbH
uneuhaus@cismst.de