OPTICAL FIBER BIOSENSORS FOR THE DETECTION OF PATHOGENS
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Date
2024-04-22
Authors
Abdossova, Albina
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences
Abstract
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), which offers real-time insights into the frequency and spread of infectious diseases within communities, is gaining recognition as a crucial tool in public health. One of the benefits of WBE is its ability to detect and mitigate possible outbreaks by means of proactive monitoring of virus particles in wastewater.
The necessity for biosensing devices that can identify viral infections in liquid samples has increased in light of the current COVID-19 epidemic. Because optical fiber biosensors (OFBs) have the special qualities of optical fibers that allow them to detect biological chemicals with great sensitivity and speed, they have become the industry leader in response to this urgency. Optical fiber biosensors have great potential for use in biotechnology, environmental monitoring, and medical diagnostics, among other fields. They are one of the extremely useful applications in the ongoing fight against infectious illnesses because of their adaptability and plasticity.
By concentrating on the creation and improvement of a fiber-optic biosensor especially designed for the detection of viral particles in liquid medium, our work aims to further the field of optical fiber biosensing technology. In our latest publication Bekmurzayeva et al. (2024) we emphasized the advantage of using label-free optical fiber biosensors for the detection of various analytes. Besides, in our other work that was published in 2023 (Kazhiyev et al., 2023) we introduced a semi-distributed interferometers (SDI) fiber-optic sensors for high sensitivity refractive index detection. In this thesis work we aim to use SDI sensors along with a biofunctionalization strategy to fabricate a sensing network that will be able to detect poxvirus in real-time conditions. To achieve this, we attempt to use anti-L1, anti-A27, and anti-A33 antibodies, which have a strong affinity for poxviruses. By immobilizing these antibodies onto the biosensor surface, we intend to create a selective platform capable of capturing and detecting viral particles present in wastewater and domestic environments.
Building upon previous research that has demonstrated promising results in detecting poxviruses using similar antibody-based biosensors explained in the paper of Seitkamal et al. (2023), our study endeavors to expand the scope of application to real-world scenarios. In addition, we performed successful experiments at State University of Milan, Italy, that confirm that the using the same antibodies we could detect vaccinia virus with 10^3 to 10^8 PFU/mL concentration, and limit of detection ~4000 PFU/mL. This result was achieved within a NATO Science for Peace and Security program (grant G5486), which has been completed in May 2023. Through collaborative efforts and innovative methodologies, we aim to validate the efficacy and reliability of our biosensor in detecting viruses in diverse environmental settings. Additionally, we will explore the long-term performance of the antibodies in continuous monitoring applications, ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness of the biosensor over extended periods.
Furthermore, our research extends beyond mere detection capabilities, as we envision the development of optimized sensor networks that can be strategically deployed for indoor and outdoor surveillance. These sensor networks, equipped with our fiber-optic biosensors, have the potential to serve as early warning systems, alerting authorities to the presence of viral pathogens and enabling timely intervention measures to curb outbreaks. Since we observed a similar behavior between detection of virus and detection of its proteins, we aim at continuing this research proving the detection in wastewaters and domestic environment, evaluating the duration of the antibodies in long-term measurement. We confirm that we will mimic the viral particles by using the proteins already available in our laboratories as their affinity and specificity has already been proven and reported. Our work is essentially an attempt to use optical fiber biosensors to their full potential for improving monitoring technologies which in turn will greatly contribute to WBE. Our mission is to do our part to the development of robust, scalable, and reliable biosensing technologies that can protect communities from the threat of infectious diseases by utilising state-of-the-art innovations and creative techniques.
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Keywords
Type of access: Restricted, optical fibers
Citation
Abdossova, A. (2024). Optical fiber biosensors for the detection of pathogens. Nazarbayev University School of Engineering and Digital Sciences