Work has been done on using the sensor for biomarker testing as it relates to the development of drugs. The advantage of this sensor is that it gives a quicker result than PCR and can speed up the time between taking a sample and getting a result, thereby enabling more rapid drug development to occur.

Depending on the drug, samples are taken from any number of places, namely food, wash water from a food processing plant, saliva, blood or urine. The sample site is dependent on where the protein is present. For instance, the COVID-19 virus is not found in urine but is found in saliva. Understanding where the desired protein is located is an important step in developing a test for a new drug application.

The advantage of our sensor is that it produces rapid results in minutes because there isn’t a growth phase like with PCR. Our in-house studies have shown it to be over 95% accurate, it is inexpensive, and the equipment needed is both portable (the testing can be done in the field or in a lab) and easy to use.

Because PCR uses an amplification stage and PEMS does not, the PEMS sensor has a built in advantage over RNA/DNA based systems.