Optical Biosensor Detects Monkeypox Quickly

• A new variant of human mpox has claimed the lives of 5% of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2023.

• The virus has spread to over 100 countries since 2022, necessitating faster, cost-effective diagnostic tools.

• Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Boston University developed an optical biosensor to detect monkeypox quickly.

• The technology could allow clinicians to diagnose the disease at the point of care, rather than waiting for lab results.

• The biosensor uses samples from patients with laboratory-confirmed mpox and incubates them with monoclonal monkeypox antibodies.

• The virus-antibody complex is transferred into tiny chambers on silicon chips on the sensor.

• A colour camera detects the small signal and counts individual particles with high sensitivity