First author Dr Ben Miller (i-sense Postdoctoral Research Associate at the London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL) said: "Paper-based lateral flow tests with gold nanoparticles do not require laboratory analysis, making them particularly useful in low resource settings and where access to healthcare is limited. Or view hourly updated newsfeeds in your RSS reader: Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks: Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. ", Co-author Professor John Morton, Director of UCL's Quantum Science and Technology Institute (UCLQ), said: "This interdisciplinary collaboration between UCLQ and the i-sense team in the LCN is a fantastic illustration of how foundational work on quantum systems, such as NV centre in diamond, can evolve from the lab and play a crucial role in real-world applications in sensing and diagnostics. This week’s podcast features an interview with Ray LaPierre, who heads up the department of engineering physics at McMaster University in Canada. Quantum technology bridges both the properties of various nanomaterials and quantum mechanics. The NV centres can signal the presence of an antigen or other target molecule by emitting a bright fluorescent light. With the inclusion of a short 10-minute constant-temperature amplification step, in which copies of the RNA were multiplied, the researchers were able to detect HIV RNA at the level of a single molecule in a model sample. This week’s podcast features an interview with Ray LaPierre, who heads up the department of engineering physics at McMaster University in Canada. ScienceDaily, 25 November 2020. Margaret shares her own “light-bulb” moment, when she realized that new laser technology could have saved hours of experimental time during her PhD, and also highlights several articles in the latest Physics World Focus on Instruments and Vacuum that highlight how breakthrough scientific discoveries rely on developments in the enabling technologies – including the first images of a black hole that were revealed in April. 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University College London. Get the latest science news with ScienceDaily's free email newsletters, updated daily and weekly. The quantum sensing abilities of nanodiamonds can be used to improve the sensitivity of paper-based diagnostic tests, potentially allowing for earlier detection of diseases such as HIV, according to a study led by UCL researchers in the i-sense McKendry group. It is not intended to provide medical or other professional advice. "Quantum nanodiamonds may help detect disease earlier." We also talk to industry editor Margaret Harris about the importance of technology and engineering for scientific progress. We believe that this transformative new technology will benefit patients and protect populations from infectious diseases.". This differs from bulk materials where the properties are governed by classic mec… Physics World‘s Anna Demming also joins the podcast to describe a flurry of new results in the emerging field of twistronics – where two layers of graphene are stacked on top of each other but twisted at a slight angle to each other. The research team are working on adapting the new technology to test for COVID-19 and other diseases over the coming months. This defect in the highly regular structure of a diamond creates what is called a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre. Paper-based lateral flow tests work the same way as a pregnancy test in that a strip of paper is soaked in a fluid sample and a change in colour -- or fluorescent signal -- indicates a positive result and the detection of virus proteins or DNA. The optical results showed up to a five orders of magnitude (100,000 times) improvement in sensitivity compared to gold nanoparticles (that is, a much lower number of nanoparticles were required to generate a detectable signal). The new research, published in Nature, found that low-cost nanodiamonds could be used to signal the presence of an HIV disease marker with a sensitivity many thousands of times greater than the gold nanoparticles widely used in these tests. Quantum technology is realized because of the various nanomaterials that exhibit quantum effects. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201125135137.htm (accessed November 29, 2020). Financial support for ScienceDaily comes from advertisements and referral programs, where indicated. However, the quantum properties of fluorescent nanodiamonds allow their emission to be selectively modulated, meaning the signal can be fixed at a set frequency using a microwave field and can be efficiently separated from the background fluorescence, addressing this limitation. One of the main principles of nanotechnology is that when a material is within the quantum regime (i.e. Lead author Professor Rachel McKendry, Professor of Biomedical Nanotechnology at UCL and Director of i-sense EPSRC IRC, said: "Our proof-of-concept study shows how quantum … If you'd like to change your details at any time, please visit My account.