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Novel Light-Emitting Biosensor Molecule Enables Quick Drug Monitoring

Monitoring the drug concentration in patients is critical for effective treatment, especially in cases of cancer, heart disease, epilepsy, and immunosuppression after organ transplants. Current methods are expensive, time-consuming, and require dedicated personnel. Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) introduce light-emitting sensor proteins that can quickly and simply show how much drug is in a patient's bloodstream. The novel biosensor molecule works by binding the drug circulating in the patient's bloodstream and changing color accordingly. The method is so simple that it could be used by patients themselves. The EPFL scientists envision a handheld detector where the patient can take a pin-prick of blood and have an immediate reading of drug concentration, much like diabetics do now for blood glucose.

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Detectors Diagnostics Imaging Lighting Measuring Instruments Medical Monitoring Patient Monitoring Sensors Test & Measurement

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    Transcript

    00:00:04 knowing how much drug is in the patient system is very important especially for diseases like epilepsy cancer or immunos suppression after organ transplants however such tests are very expensive and take time we have developed a molecule that can measure the precise concentration of a drug in a patient's bloodstream giving an instant result the process does not require any laboratory

    00:00:23 instruments and is so simple that the patients could do it themselves the molecule is made in such a way that it produces red light when there's no drug present but when there is drug it turns blue to demonstrate it I've have here a sample that contains the molecule and a certain concentration of a drug all you need to do is you take a drop off the sample you put it onto a piece of

    00:00:48 paper you put the paper into a dark box and you take a picture with a normal digital camera we then put the photo through a simple color measuring software that compares the color to a standard curve and from this determines the concentration we're currently in the process of transforming this into a system where the patient just puts a pin

    00:01:09 prick of blood onto a paper test strip slides it into a handheld reader and gets an instant result similar to the way the diabetics measure the blood sugar levels this system is a cheap and effective solution to customizing drug dosage for a whole range of diseases and it can be applied to many other diagnostic areas

    00:01:31 oh