Reaserchers have created a system for reception nanoampere signals from biosensors, as well as user-friendly data handling process and sensitivity settings for different types of biomaterial. The developed prototype is a complete device with the possibility of integrating different types of domestic biosensors via setting changes.
The device is part of an interdisciplinary project involving employees of the Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the SB RAS, the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VEKTOR, the Novosibirsk Plant of Semiconductor Devices Vostok and the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Physical-Engineering and Radiotechnical Metrology. The NSTU NETI development team includes employees, postgraduate students and students of the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Electronics, as well as employees of the NSTU Technology Transfer Center.
"The operational concept of the device is that a special biological material is applied to the sensitive substrate, on which an electric current occurs when the virus enters. The developed prototype registers this current, analyzes, and makes a conclusion about the virus's presence on the substrate and its concentration. The developed system allows us to change the sensitivity of the device and it is a universal tool for diagnosing viruses of various kinds manifested as currents of different magnitudes," said Irina Dolgikh, head of the project Hardware and Software Complex for fast-acting detection of potentially dangerous objects, the head of the development program of the Technology Transfer Center of Novosibirsk State Technical University NETI.
Scientists expect that anyone will be able to purchase such a device in the coming years to check for the presence of a virus in the body. In fact, the development opens up the possibility of creating a line of hardware and software complexes for the laboratory diagnostic market, as well as devices that can be installed at mass-use facilities: airports, train stations, schools, shopping, recreation and business centers, etc. The development is performed within the strategic project "New Engineering Solutions and Artificial Intelligence for Biomedical Engineering" of the "Priority 2030" program.
While implementing the project, the team uses the capabilities of the Technology Transfer Center of NSTU NETI: they received consultations from experts of the National University of Science and Technology MISiS in the field of semiconductor electronics, held several meetings with representatives of the Biomed cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation during the Open Innovations 2021. The collection and analysis of first-hand information made it possible to test some research hypotheses, while conducting in-depth interviews with potential consumers of the product brought to the simulation and printing of the device's prototype on a 3D printer.