Graphene sensors: introduction and market status - Page 15

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) an agreement, as part of their SenSARS program, to develop a sensing platform to detect airborne SARS-CoV-2 particles. Cardea Bio is a sub-contractor to this agreement.

This agreement will enable the two institutions to develop a real-time pathogen identification technology that can be applied to many different defense and civilian environmental monitoring applications.

Qurv Technologies, a Spain-based startup developing wide-spectrum image sensors based on graphene and quantum-dot technologies, has won the Imaging Sensors Technology Showcase at the Technology Unites Global Summit.

The Qurv wide-spectrum image sensor was recognized as the best imaging technology. The selection of winners (Infineon Technologies also won an award for its environmental sensor as the leading MEMS technology) was made from five finalists in each category in a vote by a committee of industry experts.

Grapheal, a developer of graphene-based embedded biosensors for on-site diagnostics and remote patient monitoring, has announced that it has raised a total of EUR1.9 million (almost USD$3 million) in equity and non-dilutive sources, including seed financing from Novalis Biotech’s Acceleration Fund, several innovation grants, and Bpifrance convertible notes and loans.

The funds will be used to advance the commercialization of Grapheal’s flexible graphene-based biosensor technology. This sensing technology combines novel electronic nanomaterials, embedded wireless electronics, software data analysis, and medical cloud IoT technologies. The first two applications of the technology will be a new generation digital COVID-19 test (TestNPass) for rapid screening in high-traffic areas, such as airports, and a wound care digital assistant (WoundLAB) to improve the monitoring of hard-to-heal wounds. The funds will also be used to validate the two devices in the field and complete clinical studies, respectively.

Scientists at EPFL, in collaboration with startup Xsensio, have developed a graphene-enhanced wearable system that can continually measure the concentration of cortisol—the stress hormone—in human sweat. Their device can potentially help to better understand and treat stress-related conditions like burnout and obesity.

Schematic of extended-gate FET configuration used in this work. Image from article

The team developed a small wearable sensor that can be placed directly on a patient's skin and can continually measure the concentration of cortisol, the main stress biomarker, in the patient's sweat.

Scientists from MIPT, Moscow Pedagogical State University and the University of Manchester have created a highly sensitive terahertz detector based on the effect of quantum-mechanical tunneling in graphene. The sensitivity of the device is said to already be superior to that of commercially available analogs based on semiconductors and superconductors, which opens up prospects for applications of the graphene detector in wireless communications, security systems, radio astronomy, and medical diagnostics.

Information transfer in wireless networks is based on transformation of a high-frequency continuous electromagnetic wave into a discrete sequence of bits. This technique is known as signal modulation. To transfer the bits faster, one has to increase the modulation frequency. However, this requires synchronous increase in carrier frequency. A common FM-radio transmits at frequencies of hundred megahertz, a Wi-Fi receiver uses signals of roughly five gigahertz frequency, while the 5G mobile networks can transmit up to 20 gigahertz signals. This is far from the limit, and further increase in carrier frequency admits a proportional increase in data transfer rates. Unfortunately, picking up signals with hundred gigahertz frequencies and higher is an increasingly challenging problem.

Scientists in Germany and Korea took Aptamer-based electrochemical biosensors, known for their high sensitivity and low detection limit, to the next level in their new label-free design based on laser-induced graphene, thus paving the way for their easy application in point-of-care diagnostics.

Thrombin is an enzyme that plays a vital role in wound healing by helping retain blood within the damaged blood vessel—a process known as hemostasis. What is more interesting to biologists, however, is that thrombin is found in increased concentrations under abnormal conditions, and thus can be used to diagnose and monitor blood disorders and malignancies. Thus, it is crucial to detect even minute concentrations of thrombin in the blood. The team of researchers has now devised a novel biosensor for accurately detecting minute amounts of thrombin in the blood, that holds a potential to revolutionize the field of blood disorder diagnostics.

A research team at South China University of Technology, Peking University and other China-based universities have developed an accurate, rapid, and portable electrical detector based on the use of graphene field-effect transistors (G-FETs) for detection of RNA from COVID-19 patients.

The detection system consists of two main parts: a plug-and-play packaged biosensor chip and an electrical measurement machine. The unique feature of this method is that the extent of hybridization between the ss-DNA probe and viral RNA can be directly converted to the current change of graphene channels without repetition of the PCR process. Furthermore, this method was validated using clinical samples collected from many patients with COVID-19 infection and healthy individuals as well, and the testing results were in full agreement with those of PCR-based optical methods.

Cardea Bio, Inc., U.S-based manufacturer of a biology-enabled transistor technology made from graphene-based biosensors, recently raised $6.5 Million in a series A extension that brings its A round total above $20M.

The new capital infusion is led by the life sciences and biotechnology focused investor 3E Bioventures Capital and joined by existing investors. Proceeds from the financing will be used to further develop Cardea’s proprietary Transistor platform, in order to significantly expand mass-manufacturing and further grow Cardea’s number of commercial partnerships.

Sparc Technologies, which recently announced the acquisition of Australian company Graphene Technology Solutions (GTS) as well as its plan to become a significant developer of graphene-based products that will disrupt and transform industrial markets, has established a new graphene bio-medical division aimed at developing non-invasive graphene-based breath sensing devices for detection of diseases in humans and animals.

Sparc will advance the project together with cornerstone shareholder, strategic partner and leading graphene research centre the University of Adelaide (UA) in order to establish and develop non-invasive sensing devices for human and veterinarian applications.

The Coronavirus pandemic has been having a significant impact on the graphene market and industry. Even before the pandemic, graphene has already received much attention due to promising antimicrobial properties and demonstrated antiviral efficacy. However, there is no denying the recent urgency to put these traits to good use in combating the Coronavirus.

More than a few companies have launched graphene-enhanced textiles, inks and coatings, incorporated into personal protective gear (face masks, gloves etc.), and applications like air filters and room cleansers have been developed.