Novel immunosensor detects heart attack in just a minute

Seoul, Aug 15 (IANS) A team of researchers has developed a new electrical immunosensor for swift and reliable diagnosis of heart attack which has worldwide become a leading cause of death among both men and women.

The electrical immunosensor measures within a minute the level of cardiac troponin, a type of protein that is excreted by the heart muscle into the blood which causes acute myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack.

With just a single droplet of blood, this immunosensor can detect cardiac troponin present in the blood serum as well as provide result in a minute, the researcher said.

"This new immunosensor is constructed in a different way than any other sensor," said Jaesung Jang, Professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea.

"Owing to the new design of this immunosensor, the device is able to rapidly diagnose the level of heart attacks at the point of care," Jang added.

The device also holds considerable potential to be used as a platform for sensing distinct types of proteins along with the feasibility of miniaturisation and integration for biomedical diagnosis, the researchers concluded, in the paper published in the journal Biosensors & Bioelectronics.