FOSENSING

Fiber optic based sensor for peanut allergen screening in food

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instruments are powerful optical tools, with extended applicability in biosensing, primarily because they allow the real-time quantification of biochemical interactions. However, the commercial SPR platforms are rarely used outside specialized centers, mainly because they are bulky in size, expensive and require trained personnel. Therefore, they are not necessarily suitable for on-site field service.To mitigate these issues, fiber optic (FO)-SPR biosensors have lately been introduced as a promising alternative to the prism-based SPR systems, bringing along advantages such as simplicity, portability and cost-effectiveness. Nevertheless, since the FO-SPR platform is experiencing a continuous development, many opportunities in the design of these biosensors remain insufficiently explored, a more thorough understanding of this technology's fundamentals being still required for it to ultimately reach its full potential.

FOSENSING aims to develop a reflection type FO-SPR sensing platform- a first of its kind in Romania- and to subsequently evaluate its potential by implementing new approaches based on changing the FO-SPR surface condition and the sensor's design in order to raise this technology to new levels of miniaturization, performance, portability and to broaden its range of applications. The outcome of this project will facilitate the design of FO-SPR instruments with improved performance and extended functionality and will therefore be beneficial both for scientists as well as for industrial partners that are looking for new low-cost, user-friendly and sensitive biosensors with various designations.