Biosensors - Biosense or Baie Nonsens?
Brief:
An evaluation of the resonant mirror biosensor to detect sensible signals
from the sera of patients suffering from AIDS and Tuberculosis.
Approach:
Students will assess by literature study the importance of AIDS and
tuberculosis in South Africa. They will define the need for fast and
affordable diagnosis of these diseases and appraise the current technology
to do this. They will be introduced to the theory of biosensor technology
and be allowed to do a practical on a resonant mirror biosensor to analyse
antibodies in patient and control sera.
Project:
Students will test the following hypothesis:
"In HIV and TB co-infected patients, antibodies to lipid antigens
of the TB pathogen are better detected than antibodies to protein antigens."
They will use the resonant mirror biosensor to test this hypothesis
experimentally.
Outputs:
A Gold medal at the National Expo 2003
A biosensor road show at the UpwithScience Winter School 2003
An Archimedes article on biosensor technology in health care (2004)
Inputs:
Six Grade 11 pupils in 2003
Three post graduate students from Dept Biochemistry
One professor from Dept Biochemistry
R7000, to be applied for from NRF, paying for three biosensor cuvettes
(R1200 each), reagents (R1000), two posters (R400 each), CD disks and
printer's ink (R1200), internet charges (R400)
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