Cocaine Biosensor

Aaron Rowe writes "The MIT Technology review reports that a lab at UC Santa Barbara has created a biosensor by attaching a special type of DNA called an aptamer to a gold electrode. When cocaine is present, the aptamer tightly hugs a cocaine molecule and leans over so that a metal tag can touch the gold surface. This causes a spike in a plot of current versus voltage when the electrode is attached to a machine called a cyclic voltmeter."

god DAMNIT

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, there goes my job.

Where can I get one?

[h8god]

Will these be for sale to the public, I could use one!!

Posession of a controlled substance

[Anonymous Coward]

How they get the coke for testing?

um... officer, it's for "medical research"

UCSB

[s0rbix]

and seconds after they turned it on, the sensor was activated by a passing UCSB undergrad...

Re: Gold?

[Black Parrot]

> I'm a known gold bug and I've been very interested in the industrial applications of gold

I'm interested in economic applications, but unfortunately I don't have as much as I need for some of the experiments I'd like to try.

kinky

[nEoN nOoDlE]

When cocaine is present, the aptamer tightly hugs a cocaine molecule and leans over so that a metal tag can touch the gold surface.

Sounds kinky. Makes me regret not listening during chemistry class.

Competetive technology

[SnowZero]

There are a lot of "Cocaine biosensors" you could hire off the street for a few dollars ah hour. They will react quite strongly when they find the compound in question (i.e. the "good stuff").

Re:Pryor art?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cocaine's a hell of a drug!

Big deal

[Ancil]

When cocaine is present, the aptamer tightly hugs a cocaine molecule and leans over so that a metal tag can touch the gold surface.

You can get the same effect with any garden-variety stripper.

cocaine?

[Simon Garlick]

They might as well have named it the $20 bill biodetector.

Dogs out of work?

[ewg]

Does this mean all those drug-sniffing dogs are out of work?

Sweet!!!

[LandownEyes]

No more crawling on the floor at 4am!!!

If This Thing Short Circuits

[highwaytohell]

Do users get a different type of buzz?? Bet Robert Downey Jr will try to quash this technology ASAP.

big surprise

[schematix]

As a recent grad of UCSB, i'd have to say they picked the perfect place to develop a cocaine sensor. The students and faculty will have no problem finding suitable substances to test it on.

Re:Other uses?

[Jordan Catalano]

I'll tell you what! I set up a business that sees a lot of cash go through it: a fast-food restaurant or a network of vending machines. I process all cash I take in through some sort of molecular scrubber based on these molecules. I pick up all the miniscule clumps of cocaine that are on the bills. http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp [snopes.com] I then invest those monies back into more cash-accumulating businesses and extract more and more cocaine.

Convience

[Joebert]

Theese things are going to end up for sale on the counters at convience stores, right next to the roses in the little glass tubes & the brillo pads...

The real trick is....

[canning]

At-home pregnancy tests are the model of diagnostic simplicity: a tester just pees on a stick and within minutes knows if she has to buy a crib. Imagine if one could just as easily detect HIV infection or a drug overdose.

The real challenge is getting the corse to pee on the stick. I suggest the 'old hand in the warm water' trick.

Re:UCSB

[Anonymous Coward]

University of Casual Sex and Beer

This is it!

[typical]

Now the War on Drugs will *surely* be won in short order!

Extensive research, measured in kilos

[smoon]

It ended up taking about 68 kilos of cocaine to finally nail down the winning formula, reported biochemist George Placky. "We put in a lot of long nights, in fact we frequently would stay in the lab for 72 hours straight." "The team worked so hard we tried to accomodate them wherever possible." Indeed the lab is awash with stereo equipment, couches, and large screen TVs.

Univeristy officials confirmed the long nights. Security guard Paul Costas remakred "Yeah, those guys were going at it for days on end. I helped them smuggle chicks into their parti..ahh *research*."

"We feel that with another couple of years we will have similar sensors for crystal meth, heroin, and extasy." said Dr. Placky, who is currently applying for federal grants to fund the research, as well as provide sufficient quantities of the substances for thorough research.

Re:Big deal

[Jace of Fuse!]

You can get the same effect with any garden-variety stripper.

That's an interesting garden you have. How might I go about planting my own?

Addendum

[c0dedude]

When asked if the device could register false positives, the researchers responded, "She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie; cocaine."

Re:Posession of a controlled substance

[birge]

Please. Read your own links! Ten out of Eleven $20 bills in Miami turned out to have trace amounts of cocaine on them. Hell 10 out of 11 of anything in Miami will probably test positive for dozens of illegal substances. You can probably get Robert Downey Jr.'s DNA off of half the inanimate objects in that city.

Re:Here's a list of some who DON'T...

[cayenne8]

"The Pseudoephedrine issue was over Meth-labs. There are less meth labs but now the Mexican imports of the drug have more than made up for the supply that was being produced locally."

Geez...so, now we're outsourcing our illegal drug manufacturing????

Good Lord, we just can't keep any good jobs in the US anymore....

:-)