What is it about?
We used to believe that sensors based on small vibrating membranes (called resonators) become less sensitive when they come into contact with liquids. But surprisingly, we discovered that adding just a small amount of liquid can actually make these sensors ten times more sensitive. This unexpected finding could greatly improve how we detect diseases through fluids like blood or saliva.
Featured Image
Photo by Denis N. on Unsplash
Why is it important?
It changes the way we think about resonators (sensors) in liquids. With this study, we can now better design the resonators for improved sensitivity in many healthcare applications. Improved Q-factor (a measure of sensitivity) will allow us to distinguish between diseased and healthy conditions better which was not possible before. This can be used a point of care diagnostic method for frequent blood/plasma/serum/urine/CSF testing.
Perspectives
This discovery began by chance—we noticed something that seemed impossible: our sensor gave a *stronger* response in liquid than in air, which went against everything we expected. It took us a long time to believe what we were seeing and even longer to understand the science behind it. But thanks to this breakthrough, we’ve made big strides in identifying and grouping patients with cancer and diabetes more accurately (coming soon). We hope other researchers will build on this finding and use it to improve disease detection and treatment.
Sri Harsha Paladugu
Indian Institute of Science
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Boosting quality factor of resonant sensors in fluids, Applied Physics Reviews, April 2025, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0172448.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
