A Novel Optical Sensor Configuration

Category: Biology and Medicine

Reference Number: 00427

Description

A novel optical-fiber sensor configuration has been developed for use in parallel bioreactor arrays and other potential applications. A major advantage of this configuration (as opposed to the commonly applied backscattering configuration) is that it minimizes or eliminates the effect of exterior light absorption/scattering on the sensor measurement, while allowing the detector to be positioned in a way that is amenable for sensor multiplexing, enabling substantial reduction in the cost of the multi-sensor system. This configuration may be applied to a variety of optical and fluorescence-based sensors, including but not limited to dissolved oxygen sensors, optical density sensors, glucose, and pH sensors.

Applications

• Low-cost multi-unit bioreactor systems
• Bioprocessing
• High-throughput screening
• Multi-analyte assays/diagnostics

Main Advantages

• Expanded upon standard microtiter plate technologies
• Small footprint
• Ability to grow cells under a wide array of controlled conditions at low cost
• Broad range of biomedical and biotechnological applications
• Useful for sensor multiplexing
• Simple, inexpensive, versatile

Inventor(s)

Dr. Wei Wen (Winston) Su
Ms. Gwendolyn Cheney
Department of Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

Contact Information

For licensing information, please contact Lisa Matsunaga at matsunag@hawaii.edu

For all other inquiries, please write to:

Office of Technology Transfer & Economic Development
University of Hawai’i
2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 280
Honolulu, HI 96822