A tiny gadget can detect biological signs of imminent heart failure within minutes, much more quickly than currently-used methods, and has potential as a personal diagnostic tool: "The chip 'saw' heart attack biomarkers within seconds, even if they were in ultra-low concentrations."
"Heart attacks require immediate medical intervention in order to improve patient outcomes, but while early diagnosis is critical, it can also be very challenging – and near impossible outside of a clinical setting," said Peng Zheng, an assistant research scientist at JHU and the study's lead author. "We were able to invent a new technology that can quickly and accurately establish if someone is having a heart attack."
The key is the chip's unique 'metasurface.' First, a single layer of polystyrene beads is arranged in a hexagonal pattern on a quartz substrate. Alternating thin layers of gold and silica are deposited on top, filling the gaps between the beads before the beads are removed, leaving nanosized pyramid-like stacks of gold and silica meta-atoms.
Nodding sagely as I intone "polystyrene beads arranged in a hexagonal pattern on a quartz substrate" like the Prince Regent discussing Norman tongue.
Here's the paper, Multiplexed SERS Detection of Serum Cardiac Markers Using Plasmonic Metasurfaces [Wiley.com]
