Reichmuth, Andreas Michael

Research Objective

Early diagnosis of both infectious and chronic diseases is undoubtedly one of the most pressing challenges in medicine. For example, the five year survival rate for lung cancer diagnosed at an early stage is at around 70% compared to 14% at a late stage.external page 1 For other diseases these numbers are even more pronounced. Usually, at early disease stages specific biomarkers are only present at ultra low concentrations. Even though current label-free biosensors such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR) are extremely sensitive they suffer from inherent drawbacks.external page 2 Fluctuations in temperature and buffer composition as well as false positive detection of superabundant background molecules render these technologies inapplicable for early diagnosis. Recently introduced, Focal Molography is expected to reach comparable levels of sensitivity as SPR without aforementioned limitations.external page 3 In our lab at ETH we investigate Focal Molography in all its details, from optical simulations to immunoassays. Personally, I am interested in exploring the limitations of Focal Molography in biologically relevant assays.

1. external page Cancer Research UK. Cancer Research UK Available at:external page https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/.external page (Accessed: 28th May 2017)

2. external page Homola, J. Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensors for Detection of Chemical and Biological Species. Chem. Rev. 108, 462–493 (2008).

3. external page Fattinger, C. Focal Molography: Coherent Microscopic Detection of Biomolecular Interaction. Phys. Rev. X 4, 031024 (2014).

Students

Please contact me directly or drop by my office if you are interested in biosensing. I have several projects that could peak your interest.