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UScience Tech Barcelona 2018
UScience Tech Barcelona is a team competing in Sensus 2018, its universities are the UVic and UPC. For Sensus 2018, UScience Tech Barcelona investigated the possibilities for creating a biosensor which is able to measure the concentration of Vancomycin. The full TRD can be found via this link
Method
Impedance Spectroscopy
Molecular Recognition
The Vancomyocin is recognized by rabbit polyclonal antibodies that are added. This means that these antibodies can not bind to the surface of the detector that has also been coated with vancomyocin. (These rabbit antibodies are then recognized by anti-rabbit antibodies with Horse radish peroxidase attached.)
Physical Transduction
The concentration of vancomyocin is ultimately measured using impedance of two gold electrodes on the surface of the sensor when an alternating current is run through them. The unbound antibodies attach to these two electrodes, because they are coated with vancomyocin. These results can then be checked using colorimetry.