Su Describes Her Work in the Little Sensor Lab

BME assistant professor Judith Su recently wrote about her research in rapid molecule detection in her Little Sensor Lab. 

"Our sensor technology identifies substances by shining light on samples and measuring the index of refraction, or how much light is slowed down when it passes through a material, which is different from one substance to another – say, water and a DNA molecule," Su wrote. 

This technology allows Su and her colleagues to detect extremely low concentrations of molecules down to one in a million trillion molecules, and can give results in under 30 seconds.

"Ordinarily, index of refraction is too subtle to detect in a single molecule, but using a technology we developed, we can pass light through a sample thousands of times, which amplifies the change," Su wrote. "This makes our sensor among the most sensitive in existence... Having a rapid and sensitive sensor can also enable monitoring of disease progression and can quantify the effect of different treatments. Our lab, for example, currently works on detecting low concentrations of biomolecules that indicate Alzheimer’s disease or cancer in blood, urine and saliva samples."