Ultra-Sensitive Portable Capillary Sensor (U-PAC)

U-PAC was designed at SUNY-Binghamton by a team of chemists, biologists and engineers.

Advantages of U-PAC

• Sensitivity: Low pg/ml detection limits for proteins.
• Multifunctional
  
  • Waveguide
  • Support for sensor surface
  • Sample holder
• The sensor surface is never exposed to the outer environment.

Applications of U-PAC

• Detects biological weapons like anthrax, Bacillus globigii, toxins, and live cells
• Diagnose diseases (cancerous vs non-cancerous cells)
• Detects food poisoning

The Challenge:
Build a portable instrument with minimal sample preparation and reagentless assays
Specifics:

• Complete battery powered components
  
  • Source, detector, processing and output
• Rigid alignment of optical path that could withstand the conditions a portable instrument may be subjected to.

Output
The voltage output can be monitored 2 ways:

• Via the onboard LCD display
• Can be connected to a computer or PDA interface.

Characteristics:

• Draws 100mA current from a 5 volt supply. Can be run off of a single 9-volt regulated to 5 volts with a lifetime of 10 hours

U-PAC Uses Rigid Alignment of Optics
Conclusions and Future Work

• The portable capillary instrument has been successfully constructed.
• Performance is comparable to the bench-top system
• Battery lifetime is reasonable
• U-PAC is being tested for bioagent detection, cancer cells differentiation and genetic testing.

For more information, please contact: Dr. O. A. Sadik, Department of Chemistry, SUNY-Binghamton,
PO Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, 607-777-4132, fax: 607-777-4478, e-mail:osadik@binghamton.edu