Research harnessing the properties of platinum being carried out at the University of Warwick could help paramedics to conduct on-the-spot tests for brain damage.

Professor Nicholas Dale and his team at the university have developed tiny biosensors, made from platinum, which detect chemicals in the blood that appear when there has been trauma to the brain.

That enables paramedics to quickly test the blood for such chemicals, allowing them to assess whether the patient has had a stroke, or whether any brain damage has occurred, for example in a fall.

Currently, it takes a brain scan to discover whether a patient has suffered a stroke - something which can take a few hours.

But the new biosensors, revealed by Professor Dale in the August issue of Trends in Biotechnology, can provide an assessment of whether a person has had a stroke within minutes.

Just 50 micrometres across, the biosensors have already been monitored by surgeons, Professor Dale comments, and a company called Sarissa Biomedical has been set up to develop a prototype diagnostic device so that the biosensors can eventually be easily used by all paramedics and doctors.


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