Using nanomaterials (nanoparticles, nanobeads) in diagnostics
When I was working on a small side project during my master’s, I got to test gold nanoparticles in a lateral flow assay. The signal was surprisingly strong compared to regular dyes, but I kept wondering how scalable these technologies are. Are nanomaterials just a cool research trend, or do they actually make it into routine diagnostic kits that hospitals and clinics use every day? Has anyone here seen them applied outside of academic labs?
116 Views
We actually tried magnetic nanobeads for sample prep in our lab, and they cut the processing time almost in half. What I like is that they don’t just improve sensitivity, but also simplify workflows for technicians who aren’t specialists. I’ve noticed more suppliers starting to offer nanomaterial-based kits. For example, https://gentaur.co.uk/ lists different nanoparticle reagents, which shows they’re slowly moving into the mainstream. From my experience, once manufacturers optimize cost and stability, nanomaterials could easily become part of routine diagnostics.