Indiana Section of the Society for Applied SpectroscopyIndiana Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy
2000-2001 Seminar Abstracts
OPTICAL FIBER CHEMICAL SENSORS: FROM MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TO ARTIFICIAL PERCEPTION
Dr. David R. Walt
Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155
http://ase.tufts.edu/chemistry/walt/index.htm
We
have used coherent imaging fibers to make fiber-optic chemical sensors.
Sensors can be made with spatially-discrete sensing sites for
multianalyte determinations. We are
investigating the limits of our ability to create high-density sensing arrays
containing thousands of microsensors and nanosensors.
Micrometer- and nanometer-sized sensors have been fabricated by etching
the cores of the optical imaging fiber to create wells and loading them with
micro and nanospheres. Such arrays can be employed for making genosensors with high
sensitivity and reproducibility.
We have also created optical sensors based on principles derived from the olfactory system. A cross-reactive array of sensors is created such that specificity is distributed across the array’s entire reactivity pattern rather than contained in a single recognition element. The ability to use such information-rich assemblies for broad-based diagnostic sensing will be discussed.
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