In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to quickly and accurately test for disease has never been more important. Our Senior Design team developed a portable silicon-based biosensor for biomarker detection. Our system utilizes a photonic chip that can detect the presence of biomarkers associated with any type of disease. Intended to act as a ‘lab on a chip’, our system aims to enable users to rapidly test for disease even in remote areas where access to testing equipment is limited.

Our project involved taking an existing system developed by Dr. Ray Chen’s research group, and improving its portability through the development of a cartridge, PCB, and user interface. We eliminated the need for manual alignment between the photonic chip and fiber array, reduced space by replacing loose wired power distribution systems with a PCB, and developed a user interface in Python to conduct tests and analyze data that requires minimal technical experience.