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DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION SYSTEM OF BIOLOGICAL, MATTER CONSTITUTED BY ONE OR MORE OPTICAL SENSORS AND ONE OR MORE LIGHT SOURCES, ASSOCIATED PROCESS AND RELATED APPLICATIONS
WO2008029374
The present invention relates to a system and process for detection and/or qualitative and quantitative identification of the biological material, such as specific sequences of nucleic acids or proteins as antibodies, present in biological samples. The system is composed by one or more light sources (1) combined with one or more integrated optical photo sensors, or not, and various electronic components (4), necessary for obtaining/processing of the signal emitted by the metal nanoprobes functionalized with a solution of biological composite, as well as also a micro-controller and a microprocessor, fixed or portable. This photosensor structure is able to detect and to quantify the colour variations produced by metal nanoprobes, being this preferentially gold, functionalized by oligonucleotides complementary to specific DNA/RNA sequences, proteins, as for instance antibodies and/or antigens related with certain disease, or other sample or solution of biological composite, that are to be investigated. The detection and quantification process is based on the response of a photosensor, singular or integrated, based on thin film technology of amorphous, nanocrystalline or microcrystalline silicon and their alloys, as well as the new active ceramic semiconductors, amorphous and not amorphous.
The biological liquid is placed on the opposite side of the photosensor to where the deposition of the sensors' layers took place, gaining the advantage of the liquid not being in direct contact with the sensor, but rather being in contact with the free substrate side. This fact permits reusing the photosensor, implying a lower cost on the use of the system. On the other hand, the contact area of the functionalized nanoprobes with the sensor is large enough to allow obtaining rigorous results in a qualitative and quantitative manner, without the need to use large amounts of the assay.