Jamia Millia Islamia researchers develop nanosensor to detect arsenic level

Researchers at Jamia Millia Islamia have developed a nanosensor to detect the level of arsenic in living cells, the varsity said on Monday. A research team led by Mohd Mohsin, Assistant Professor in Department of Biosciences, has developed the nanosensor, it said.

Arsenic poisoning has been a major concern that causes severe toxicological damages, they said. The developed nanosensor named as SenALiB (Sensor for Arsenic Linked Blackfoot disease) can be used to detect and quantify the level of arsenic in living cells without their destruction.

It can be used to detect the level of arsenic even up to nanomolar range. "The sensor is a simple and reliable approach that provides high performance measurements of changes in the arsenic concentration throughout the cells non-invasively and with high resolution," the varsity said.

The work has been published in the prestigious journal "Scientific Reports" recently. The toxicity level of arsenic can be measured in any type of cells and any given point of time.

The nanosensor has been filed for patents.