Tad Hogg and Philip J. Kuekes
Abstract
Molecular electronics and nanoscale chemical sensors could enable
constructing microscopic sensors capable of detecting patterns of
chemicals in a fluid. Information from a large number of such
devices flowing passively in the bloodstream allows estimating
properties of tiny chemical sources in a macroscopic tissue
volume. We use estimates of plausible device capabilities to
evaluate their performance for typical chemicals released into the
blood by tissues in response to localized injury or infection. We
find the devices can readily discriminate a single cell-sized
chemical source from the background chemical concentration,
providing high-resolution sensing in both time and space. By
contrast, such a chemical source would be difficult to distinguish
from background when diluted throughout the blood volume as
obtained with a blood sample.
Full paper in pdf format, published in Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine 2:239-247 (2006)
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