Bio-nanotechnology
The on going research in bio-nanotechnology is focused on the development of a fully integrated micromachined microfluidic device for point-of-care diagnostics. This is a nucleic acid detection system capable of accepting whole blood as a crude biological sample, followed by on-chip DNA extraction, purification, PCR amplification and electrochemical detection in a manner that allows for micro litre samples to be screened for infectious pathogens with sample-in-sample-out results in less than 30 minutes. The proof-of-concept of DNA extraction from whole blood has been successfully demonstrated using switching magnetic fields. Numerical modelling of a novel electrochemical DNA sensor has been completed and the proof-of-concept studies are underway. The research will continue to address the challenging issues associated with the system integration of all the functionalities including PCR, electronic control and embedded software. Future research will be directed towards system design modification to accommodate other biological samples. The application areas will be extended to bacterial, viral and fungi detection in food, forensic, bio-defence and veterinary environments.
