Low-Cost Medical Diagnostics Exploiting Different Kinds of Receptors on Plasmonic Plastic Optical Fiber Sensors

Authors present a very low-cost bio-sensing strategy, based on plastic optical fibers (POFs) and receptors, able to selective detection of substances in water solution. In this work several applications based on different kinds of receptors are reported, such as molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), chemical receptors (Deferoxamine and D,L-penicillamine) and bio-receptors (aptamers and antibodies). In particular, we have reported how, exploiting the same plasmonic platform in a D-shaped POF with these different kinds of receptors, interesting results have been achieved in medical diagnostics for cancer bio-markers detection, Celiac disease antigens monitoring, L-nicotine detection, and detection of Iron Fe(III) and copper Cu(II).