Graphene is a layer of carbon only one atom thick. Since it was first isolated in 2004, it has found applications in strengthening materials, accelerating electronics, and boosting performance in batteries, among others.
It also shows great potential for use in biosensors. These are devices used to detect small concentrations of biomarkers in biological samples, such as blood or saliva. Biomarkers are molecules that suggest the presence of disease.
In a recent review, my colleagues and I looked into the latest research to find the most exciting potential applications of graphene in point-of-care tests. This includes diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, but also detecting other viruses, bacteria and even cancerous tumours.
It’s early days. The technology still needs to go through clinical trials and processes need to be developed to manufacture these tests at scale. However, in the next five years, graphene could start to play a part in healthcare technology.
A single atom layer
Because graphene is a two-dimensional material, it has a tremendously high surface-to-volume ratio, which makes it very sensitive to changes in its environment. Think of a vast, calm lake. Any tiny pebble that hits the surface creates a ripple that quickly expands across the water.
Similarly, when other substances—even single molecules—hit graphene, they generate small, measurable electrical pulses.
Relying on this phenomenon alone to detect SARS-CoV-2 wouldn’t work. When used as a biosensing layer in electronic devices, graphene is sensitive down to a single molecule. Yet it can’t tell the difference between coronavirus and the flu—the same way the lake would confuse a pebble and a marble.
To solve this, researchers have developed chemically modified graphene, coating it with antibodies that bind specifically to SARS-CoV-2. When the virus reaches the sensor and attaches to the antibody, it triggers an electrical signal through the thin graphene layer.
SARS-CoV-2 carries all its genetic information in a strand of RNA, which is often used in detection processes like a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A PCR device amplifies the amount of RNA in a saliva sample until it becomes detectable under a microscope.
But this process is time consuming, requires expensive equipment and very specific and expensive reagents—substances used in the labelling and amplification process, or in the preparation of the sample.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
Post by Amanda Scott, NA CEO. Follow her on twitter @tantriclens
Thanks to Heinz V. Hoenen. Follow him on twitter: @HeinzVHoenen
News
Researchers Discover What Reading for Pleasure May Be Doing to Your Brain
Reading for pleasure may offer surprising benefits for the brain, with research linking the habit to better mental health, stronger cognitive abilities, and a lower risk of dementia. Reading for pleasure may do far [...]
Scientists Discover a Hidden Trigger That Keeps Inflammation Alive
Inflammation persists after proteins detach from immune receptors, revealing a potential target for autoimmune treatments. Since a Nobel Prize-winning discovery in the 1990s identified molecules called Toll-like Receptors as the guardians of the human [...]
A Virus Gives Itself Away the Moment It Attacks
Researchers have found the trigger behind a powerful bacterial defense against viruses. Viruses that prey on bacteria could become an increasingly important tool for treating bacterial infections, particularly as antibiotic resistance makes some infections [...]
Scientists Discover Aspirin May Slash Dementia Risk by 70% – but Only for Certain People
Aspirin was linked to a sharply lower dementia risk in some older adults, and their genes may hold the clue. A Monash University analysis found that older adults with a particular genetic profile had [...]
Inflammation May Awaken Dormant Cancer Cells Years After Treatment
The body’s response to inflammation may disturb cancer cells that have been lying silent for years, giving them an opportunity to grow again. Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have found that gut inflammation [...]
Where do nanoparticles go once they enter the body?
New international best practice guidance, co-written at ANSTO, sets out how to measure where nanoparticles like titanium dioxide end up in the body and how long they remain. The guidance has been shared by [...]
Long-Acting HIV Shots Could Solve a Major Treatment Challenge for Young People
A major African trial suggests that changing how HIV treatment is delivered could significantly improve viral suppression in adolescents. Young people with HIV were more likely to keep the virus suppressed when they received [...]
WHO Factsheets – The top 10 causes of death
In 2023, the 10 leading causes of death accounted for 33 million deaths, or 54% of the total 61 million deaths worldwide. The top global causes of death, in order of total number of lives lost, [...]
Aging Cells May Be Hiding From the Immune System – Scientists Think They Know How
Your immune system is supposed to clear out damaged cells. Researchers may have found how some of them hide and linger as the body ages. Researchers led by Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University have identified [...]
Your Voice May Reveal How Fast Your Brain Is Aging
Researchers have developed a machine-learning “speech clock” that estimates age from subtle patterns in how people speak and what they say. It is possible that people’s voices may contain certain signals of aging that [...]
Optogenetics Pioneers Win 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel, and Karl Deisseroth for the development of optogenetics, a revolutionary technology that uses light to control individual neurons [...]
Molecular Manufacturing: The Future of Nanomedicine – From NanoappsMedical Inc.
This book explores the revolutionary potential of atomically precise manufacturing technologies to transform global healthcare, as well as practically every other sector across society. This forward-thinking volume examines how envisaged Factory@Home systems might enable the cost-effective [...]
What is ‘American Covid’ and how bad is it?
Cases of so-called ‘American Covid’ are on the rise in the UK. The strain is officially called XFG, or ‘Stratus’, and is the most common variant in North America, hence the name. It might soon [...]
Researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection
Russian authorities have imposed "anti-epidemic measures" after a laboratory worker at an institute in Siberia dedicated to studying the plague and other infectious diseases died of a mysterious illness. The researcher, a 28-year-old female [...]
GHCE Concept
From the preface of the book Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artificial Intelligence, Edited by Frank Boehm: Since the publication of my first book (Nanomedical Device and Systems [...]
A Surprising Brain Signal Could Explain Why Eating Less Protein Extends Lifespan
A new paper suggests that limiting protein intake triggers a coordinated response throughout the body that may help explain how protein restriction affects healthy aging. Animals respond to protein restriction, or reduced protein in [...]
