Microfluidic nanoparticles enable fast testing of athlete training

New Scientist : Argento Diagnostics, a company spun off from the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, has used nanotechnology and microfluidics to tackle a problem in the training of elite athletes: How do you monitor the levels of key metabolic molecules without having to send samples to a lab? Argento’s solution is a handheld device that can take a sample of an athlete’s blood, saliva, or urine and send it through microfluidic channels, where it mixes with silver nanoparticles and larger magnetic nanoparticles, both of which are coated with antibodies. In the presence of a biomolecule of interest, the silver nanoparticles stick to the magnetic nanoparticles. Flushing off the silver nanoparticles creates a concentration of silver ions whose charge is proportional to the amount of biomolecule in the sample.