Patent ID: 7830515

Claim:
A sensor for detecting biomaterials of interest contained in a bioaerosol sample comprising: a mechanical system operative to collect the bioaerosol sample; an optical system coupled to the mechanical system and having two optical channels, the optical system including a source of light selectively energizable to excite the collected bioaerosol sample emitting at least two emission signals of different wavelengths each of which is detected by a respective one of the two optical channels; wherein the at least two emission signals are fluorescent signals emitted simultaneously during the energization of the source of light, one of the optical channels being configured to detect a time-delayed phosphorescent emission signal generated by the bioaerosol sample upon de-energization of the source of light to allow for time resolution to be used as a discriminator between the fluorescent and phosphorescent signals, so that the sensor is provided with the improved selectivity of the detection of the biomaterials of interest; and an electronic system coupled to the mechanical and optical systems and operative to compare each of the fluorescent signals and the phosphorescent signal against a respective predetermined reference value to establish whether each of the signals is generated by the biomaterials.