Airborne viruses are a key factor in the transmission of infectious diseases. The article published in Talanta, by Elsevier, presents a selective system capable of detecting airborne viruses directly and in situ. This method makes use of small electrical circuits that function as a kind of sensitive antenna, able to detect changes when a molecule is nearby, without the need to add additional reagents — in other words, employing resonant LC (inductor–capacitator) circuits.

“Determining the presence of pathogens in the air is vital, as it enables preventive measures to be taken against threats such as the coronavirus at the time, or against other microorganisms with a high impact on health and the economy, such as those that caused avian influenza or hospital superbugs, which spread rapidly and cause serious damage both at the individual level and to healthcare systems”, explains David Giménez, professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry at the University of Valencia and one of the article’s authors. “Thanks to very simple electronics we have developed a small-sized, low-cost biosensor, costing around 1 euro, which makes it easily scalable and therefore suitable for integration into early warning systems, both in smart buildings and wearable devices”, the scientist adds.

Alongside this feature, “one of the most important advances of the new process is the immediacy of the system,” notes Patricia Noguera, professor in the Department of Chemistry of the Polytechnic University of Valencia and also a co-author of the article. “As no additional reagents are required, this method allows pathogens to be detected instantly in real time, avoiding lengthy sampling and laboratory analysis procedures”, she concludes.

The new biosensor has been developed, as a proof of concept, for the detection of the M13 virus, a microorganism that is easy to handle for research purposes. According to the published article, its results can be extrapolated to any other pathogen and to any environment.

Reference:
Patricia Noguera, Nuria Pastor-Navarro, Andrea Bernardos, Serena Medaglia, Miguel Alcañiz-Fillol, Rafael Masot-Peris, David Giménez-Romero. LC biosensors (Bio-LC): new resonant sensors for direct detection of airborne viruses, Talanta, Volume 294, 2025, 128192, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2025.128192