We will be offering four projects this year. The Fabrication of Enzyme Biosensors using Alkanethiols Biosensors couple the remarkable specificity of biological molecules, such as enzymes, with a signal transducer to allow the detection of a single species in complex media without sample preparation. A common example of a biosensor is the glucose monitors used by diabetics to determine their blood glucose levels. Alkanethiols self assemble on gold surfaces to form stable, ordered monolayers via a sulfur-gold bond. This project will investigate the parameters which are important in defining the response of an oxalate biosensor constructed using alkanethiols.
Oxalate is important in the diagnosis of kidney stones.
Currently oxalate is monitored using solvent extraction which is unreliable and time consuming. In later stages of the study it is envisaged the biosensor will be used in natural samples and compared to the hospital determined results for the same samples. They are sensitive to nanogram changes in mass on the crystal surface. The specificity of detection is achieved by coating the QCM electrodes with a selective layer. To date these layers have mainly consisted of partially selective, chemically and physically stable, materials commonly used as stationary phases in the gas chromatograph.