Porous silicon sensor for the detection of Chagas desease

L. LASAVE, V. GONZALEZ, C. L. A. BERLI; R. URTEAGA, R. ARCE, R. KOROPECKI

Santa Fe

Congreso; Congreso Internacional de Metalurgia y Materiales SAM-CONAMET/IBEROMAT/MATERIA 2014; 2014

SAM-CONAMET-IBEROMAT

Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). This illness affects life expectancy in a broad social spectrum of the population of South and Central America. We present the preliminary results of using porous silicon (PS) functionalized surfaces for real-time and label-free detection of anti-T. cruzi antibodies. To perform this study, we designed a bioaffinity-based optical biosensor consisting of: recombinant antigens of T. cruzi (receptors), anti-T. cruzi antibodies present in hyperimmune rabbit sera (analyte), and a single layer of self-sustained macroporous silicon (optical transducer).