The system employs a
tester box with a display and a keypad (similar to the glucose meters
available in the market). A disposable strip as shown above is used for
analyzing blood. It incorporates a micro fluidic channel with a
regulator pump. While the test strip is plugged into the tester, a
blood sample is placed on the left hand side pad and the regulator
pushes the blood across the sensing nanowire bridge. The strips are
designed for a specific biomarker. The battery operated box uses a
common oscillator drive for the pump as well as the impedance bridge.
The presence of the biomarker in the blood produces an imbalance, which
gets demodulated as an output signal.
This analyzer employs a dual interrogation technique to detect trace
levels of bacteria toxins in water sample being analyzed. The sensing
partition consists of four functional layers, namely sensing substrate,
sense seal, water channel and the water drain. The first technique
implemented on the sensing substrate is similar to the one Waddan uses
in the blood analyzer-a SiC nanowire bridge across fluidic channels.
When pathogens bind with the organic molecules on the sense nanowires,
it changes the current through them which creates an imbalance in the
bridge. In addition, an optical waveguide is also built across the
fluidic channels. A pathogen specific laser radiation passing through
the waveguides also improves the measurement of pathogenic
microorganisms at trace levels in a contaminated water sample.
