• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, July 26, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

How stressed are you? Nanoparticles pave the way for home stress testing

by
August 30, 2024
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
ADVERTISEMENT
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Stress takes various shapes in our daily lives, from relentless work demands to the constant rush of the school run. But ignoring high stress levels can lead to serious health issues like depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

Home testing of stress levels one step closer to reality

Credit: Andreas Schikora, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Stress takes various shapes in our daily lives, from relentless work demands to the constant rush of the school run. But ignoring high stress levels can lead to serious health issues like depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

So what if checking your stress levels at home became the norm? Thanks to nanoparticles, this possibility is drawing closer.

In a new study published in the journal Talanta, a team from China and the UK have produced a new and improved detector that can accurately measure levels of cortisol – a stress biomarker in the blood.

Tong Ji, a current part-time PhD student and a senior technician at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), China, is the first author of the study. She says, “A cost-effective, easily reproducible, and easy-to-use point-of-care testing device that accurately measures cortisol levels has long been sought. It could make a huge difference to an appropriate and speedy diagnosis of high cortisol levels, drastically improving people’s lives.”

The devices currently available generally contain electrodes that have poor stability in different and fluctuating conditions, such as changing pH and temperature. This gives the devices a short shelf life and makes them difficult to produce commercially.

“Current cortisol detectors have reference electrodes with a silver layer that is easily oxidised and unstable in electrochemical measurements,” says Ji. “In this study, we used iridium oxide nanoparticles to cover the silver layer. This modification improves the stability, sensitivity and reproducibility of cortisol detection in point-of-care devices.”

Dr Qiuchen Dong, an assistant professor at XJTLU and corresponding author, adds, “This is the first time iridium oxide has been used in this way. Our team have produced a simple, low-cost cortisol measuring device that detects cortisol molecules at a concentration 3,000 times lower than the normal range of cortisol in our blood. This makes our device sensitive enough for commercial use.”

The iridium oxide-modified electrodes have also improved the selectivity of testing. Dr Graham Dawson, XJTLU Associate Professor and co-author, says, “One problem with the current solutions is that there is much similarity between cortisol and other hormones such as progesterone, testosterone, and corticosterone. This means it is difficult for the detectors to tell them apart. Our iridium oxide-modified electrode is selective enough to distinguish the different hormones and helps to solve this issue.”



Journal

Talanta

DOI

10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126776

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Iridium oxide-modified reference screen-printed electrodes for point-of-care portable electrochemical cortisol detection

Article Publication Date

30-Aug-2024

COI Statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article.

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Machine Learning Uncovers Sorghum’s Complex Mold Resistance

July 20, 2025
blank

Archaeal Ribosome Shows Unique Active Site, Hibernation Factor

July 17, 2025

Mobile Gene Regulator Balances Arabidopsis Shoot-Root Growth

July 16, 2025

Mobile Transcription Factor Drives Nitrogen Deficiency Response

July 16, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    63 shares
    Share 25 Tweet 16
  • USF Research Unveils AI Technology for Detecting Early PTSD Indicators in Youth Through Facial Analysis

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • New Measurements Elevate Hubble Tension to a Critical Crisis

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Additive Manufacturing of Monolithic Gyroidal Solid Oxide Cells

Machine Learning Uncovers Sorghum’s Complex Mold Resistance

Pathology Multiplexing Revolutionizes Disease Mapping

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.