Studying animal emotions allows us to gather more insight into our own emotions and offers tangible economic benefits. Farm animals that are well maintained produce more and higher quality agricultural products. Using sensors to collect biometric data as a means of measuring animal emotions is the focus of our research theme. Sensor-based approaches are being developed in measuring and in monitoring animal emotions by the farmworx team headed by Dr. Suresh Neethirajan. By overcoming the challenges of interpreting animal emotions, and the relationship between emotions, facial patterns, and sounds; Farmworx team of Wageningen University offers novel ways to enhance animal welfare and thereby animal production.
Optoelectronic fowl adenovirus detection based on local electric field enhancement on graphene quantum dots and gold nanobundle hybrid.
Syed Rahin Ahmed, Jack Mogus, Rohit Chand, Eva Nagy, Suresh Neethirajan.
Biosensors and Bioelectronics (Link)
- Optoelectronic biosensor to detect Fowl Adenovirus was developed.
- The developed biosensors was based on gold nanobundles-graphene quantum dots hybrids.
- Assay had a detection limit of 8.75 PFU/mL with linear range from 10 to 10,000 PFU/mL.
- Proposed sensing strategy was 100 times more sensitive than conventional ELISA method.
- Present bioassay may become a new strategy for biological and chemical molecules detection.
An optoelectronic sensor is a rapid diagnostic tool that allows for an accurate, reliable, field-portable, low-cost device for practical applications. In this study, template-free In situ gold nanobundles (Au NBs) were fabricated on an electrode for optoelectronic sensing of fowl adenoviruses (FAdVs). Au NB film was fabricated on carbon electrodes working area using L(+) ascorbic acid, gold chroloauric acid and poly-l-lysine (PLL) through modified layer-by-layer (LbL) method. A scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image of the Au NBs revealed a NB-shaped Au structure with many kinks on its surface, which allow local electric field enhancement through light–matter interaction with graphene quantum dots (GQDs). Here, GQDs were synthesized through an autoclave-assisted method. Characterization experiments revealed blue-emissive, well-dispersed GQDs that were 2–3 nm in size with the fluorescence emission peak of GQDs located at 405 nm. Both Au NBs and GQDs were conjugated with target FAdVs specific antibodies that bring them close to each other with the addition of target FAdVs through antibody–antigen interaction. At close proximity, light–matter interaction between Au NBs and QDs produces a local electric signal enhancement under Ultraviolet–visible (UV–visible) light irradiation that allows the detection of very low concentrations of target virus even in complex biological media. A proposed optoelectronic sensor showed a linear relationship between the target FAdVs and the electric signal up to 10 Plaque forming unit (PFU)/mL with a limit of detection (LOD) of 8.75 PFU/mL. The proposed sensing strategy was 100 times more sensitive than conventional ELISA method.