Toward faster detection of biomolecular interactions

While in electrical engineering, automated measurements may typically take in the order of microseconds to minutes, within bio-engineering, measurements taking hours to days are more common. Hence, technological innovations result in new versions of laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. every year, while medical innovations leading to new drugs take about 13 years. As a result, drug development is very expensive, entails high risks, and currently does not allow us to deal properly with health emergencies like the corona virus, or societal challenges like healthy ageing in times of governmental budget restrictions. But then, what happens if you bring those fields of electrical and bio-engineering together?

At BiosenSource, we aim to drive drug discovery  by developing electronics-based measuring devices and data analysis software that excel in terms of speed, accuracy and user-friendliness. 

Our first device, called BIsense, will allow researchers in academia, biotech and pharma to study interactions between biomolecules, such as protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions, in a faster and simpler manner than possible today, impacting both fundamental research -i.e., understanding diseases- and drug discovery.

The BIsense measuring device

Our measuring device allows researchers to detect protein-DNA binding interactions in less than 10 minutes, and to determine binding constants within less than 1 hour. In a later phase, the application range will be extended to protein-protein interactions.

Instead of using a gel, as in a gel shift assay or electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), our technology relies on a nanopore to detect a mobility shift. As a consequence, our technology is

  • fast: it takes less than 1 h per experiment instead of 2-3 days
  • label-free, eliminating the need for radio-active material or EtBr
  • easy to use: it requires pipetting buffer solution and different protein and DNA concentrations onto a chip.