New Optical Biosensor Can Cut into Sepsis Diagnosis Time

Researchers at the Laboratory of Bionanophotonic Systems (BIOS) at EPFL's School of Engineering have developed an optical biosensor that slashes the sepsis diagnosis time from several days to just a few minutes. Their approach draws on recent developments in nanotechnology and on light effects at a nanoscale to create a highly portable, easy-to-use device that can rapidly detect sepsis biomarkers in a patient's bloodstream. And their device takes just a few minutes to deliver a result, like a pregnancy test.