The team at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, is behind this idea of using firefly enzyme to increase the molecular sensitivity of portable test kits.

The enzyme luciferase had been tagged and manipulated to block its action and instead it had been used for the detection of a target protein.

Luciferase lights the firefly up. The lights are strong enough to be seen by the naked eye, thus, the reading devices are to come cheap.

“The main application we actually envision is the use of our bioluminescent tools for the detection of target biological molecules with a simple device, similar to a digital camera,” says Schena, part of the team. “Such devices can be used directly by the patient for self-testing, instead of performing such analysis in a hospital setting. That’s where we see the highest impact of our technology on society.”

The team has combined with Lucentix, which will manufacture the biochemical tools to create a commercial product out of this.

“The patient at home pricks his finger and puts a little drop of blood onto the test-strip, then inserts the test-strip into a reader, that gives the precise concentration of the biomolecule of interest within five minutes,” Schena continued.

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Author:Technology Blog