Airborne surface plasmon resonance biosensing

On March 14, 2003 an experimental aircraft fitted with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors connected to an air sampling system performed a 90-minute flight over Renton, Washington, demonstrating the first-ever use of SPR sensors for airborne biodetection. In this paper, we describe the instrumentation constructed for this purpose, the experiment conducted, and the results obtained. Instrumentation was based on Texas Instruments’ Spreeta SPR sensors combined with sample collection and fluidic apparatus designed for airborne sensing. Detection targets were two innocuous proteins ovalbumin and horseradish peroxidase. We describe future enhancements necessary to apply this technology on an unmanned airborne vehicle.