Heart attacks require immediate and effective diagnosis to be treated correctly. In an attempt to expedite the process, researchers at South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) are attempting to develop an electrical immunosensor to detect heart attacks within a minute.

The system works by measuring the level of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), a protein that is excreted by the heart muscle into the blood following a heart attack.

Jaesung Jang, the lead author of the study, credits the immunosensor’s construction with its ability to rapidly diagnose the level of heart attacks at the point of care. With just a single drop of blood, the immunosensor is able to detect the target protein in the blood following a heart attack. Results can be attained within one minute.

"The level of cTnI within a single droplet of blood serum is not great,” Chang-Jo Han, a combined master’s-doctoral student in Jang’s research group, said. "However, we were able to attract the target protein onto the sensing areas via electrical forces, thereby greatly improving detection time and detection limit."

According to the research team, this novel immunosensor holds considerable potential for use as a platform for sensing distinct types of proteins, along with the feasibility of miniaturization and integration for biomedical diagnosis.

The research was published the journal Biosensors & Bioelectronics.