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VU researchers receive grant to develop optical biosensors

Researchers from VU University Amsterdam together with colleagues from Wageningen University (WUR) have received a grant to develop miniaturized optical biosensors.

These biosensors will have improved resolution, measurement speed and analysis capabilities in order to measure biological properties of hazardous substances and drugs. 

Jeroen Kool, Wilfried Niessen and Hubertus Irth (VU University) and Michel Nielen and Teris van Beek (WUR) receive the grant  of € 800,000 from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). It allows eight man-years of research by two PhD students and the purchase of tools and apparatus for development of the biosensors.

The project , with the acronym 'SPRing' (Surface Plasmon Resonance optical sensing), focuses on SPR biosensors that can measure interactions between biomolecules in solution with other biomolecules immobilized on gold surfaces.