The long-term objectives of this research are to focus on the development of nanobiosensor devices based on bacteriorhodopsin (bR)suitable for applications in the areas of environmental monitoring and testing. Such biosensors may be interfaced directly to mobile, autonomous or semi autonomous robotic devices or be applied as part of integrated "bio-chips" for field analysis applications. The specific and immediate goals of this research are to investigate the application of bR as an optical transducer and also investigate specific applications such as biosensors for toxicity monitoring based on bio-luminescent systems coupled to bateriorhodopsin which is used as the biological signal transducer. A biosensor is defined as a compact analytical device incorporating a biological or biologically-derived sensing element either integrated within or intimately associated with a physico-chemical transducer. The usual aim of a biosensor is to produce either discrete or continuous electronic signals which are proportional to a single analyte or a related group of analytes [1]. The biological sensing element can be an enzyme, antibody,nucleic acid, antibody fragment, or a whole microbial cell, or plant or animal tissue.
|