NEW YORK (360Dx) – A*STAR’s Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) and French research institute XLIM announced today a three-year research collaboration agreement to develop a surface enhanced raman scattering-based (SERS) biosensing platform.
The project's ultimate goal is to create an integrated sample collection and biosensing device that allows for detection of biomarkers in bodily fluids with picomolar to femtomolar levels of sensitivity, and without the need for upfront sample preparation.
SERS uses the inelastic scattering of monochromatic light to detect changes in analytes' molecular state and could potentially enable higher multiplexing and improved sensitivity compared to conventional immunoassays.
According to a statement from A*STAR, the collaboration will draw on that organization's experience in constructing plasmonic nanosensors and XLIM's expertise in fabricating the photonic crystal fiber to be used in the platform.
The platform could enable multiplexed detection of biomarkers with high sensitivity and in extremely small sample volumes, Malini Olivo, head of the Bio-Optical Imaging Group at SBIC and one of the leaders of the collaboration, said in the statement. He added that the researchers "would like to initiate pilot clinical trials using this technology as soon as possible."
Financial and other terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.