Biologists and optics researchers develop a biosensor based on DVD technology.

Penmetcha Kumar, a biologist at the Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, was interested in label-free detection of biomarkers using a type of molecule known as an aptamer and wanted to develop a diagnostic tool for use at the bedside. Elsewhere in the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba, near Tokyo, Junji Tominaga was director of the Center for Applied Near Field Optics Research. Kumar and Tominaga met at a seminar organized by AIST in March 2005 and are currently working together to develop a 'BioDVD' that can detect ligand–aptamer interactions on a disc similar to a conventional DVD.

While Kumar's team optimized the chemistry involved in attaching the aptamers to surfaces and measured various ligand–aptamer interactions, Tominaga and co-workers developed the discs and machines to read them. The discs have a multilayer structure, containing alternating thin films of dielectric, metal and phase-changing materials, and the ligand–aptamer interactions are detected by measuring changes in the reflection intensity of the disc. The BioDVD platform is promising for a number of reasons, says Kumar: it can be mass-fabricated cheaply, it relies on simple DVD optics, it is suitable for high-throughputs, and the discs can be re-used after rinsing.

The two sides of the collaboration started by performing experiments together. “For a successful collaboration, it is important to set short-term goals and to schedule these collaborative experiments,” says Kumar. “It is also important to read articles from other fields, as well as your own, because this helps you to think about how different fields are emerging. Biologists should also attend and present their work at non-biology conferences,” he adds. This BioDVD project is now receiving a budget of around 10 million Japanese yen per year from a special research fund at AIST.