POROUS SILICON SENSOR FOR THE DETECTION OF CHAGAS DISEASE

LILIANA LASAVE; RAÚL URTEAGA; VERÓNICA D. GONZALEZ; R.R. KOROPECKI; ROBERTO R. ARCE

Benidorm

Conferencia; 9th International Conference PSST-2014; 2014

Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (Ti cruzi). This illness affects life expectancy in a broad social spectrum of the population of South America. We present here preliminary results of using porous silicon functionalized surfaces for real-time and label-free detection of anti- T.cruzi antibodies. To perform this study, we designed a bioaflinity-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).