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Wednesday, 7th December 2005 (6397 views)

Using gold nanoparticles, scientists have been able to prove they can detect tiny influenza virus particles.

The revolutionary research was conducted by Fillip Ignatovich and Professor Lukas Novotny from the University of Rochester in New York.

Gold particles acted as a control group in the experiment, although the process itself harnessed electroosmosis techniques.

"Electroosmosis is liquid movement using electrodes. We dip a positive electrode on one side of a glass tube and a negative electrode on the other and apply voltage," Mr Ignatovich was quoted as saying in Physorg.com.

The duo found that their new nanoparticle sensor could detect gold particles as small as five nanometres, proving the power of the new method.

The results also showed that the technique could distinguish the Influenza virus from other particles of a similar size.

Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters.

 

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