- More than 2 years ago
A portable sensor that borrows a trick from biotechnology could lead to rapid detectors of environmental uranium contamination, researchers say.
Yi Lu of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his coworkers built a sensor containing catalytic DNA, which can split another DNA strand at a specific site. Most catalytic DNAs require a metal ion to function, and the uranyl ion triggers activity in the sensor.