Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is caused by the African trypanosome, a single-cell parasite that proliferates in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of infected patients. Diagnostic measures for this pathogen are currently not sufficiently robust and reliable enough to permit effective disease control procedures. As a consequence, we suggested the development of a new sensor type, combining the selectivity of parasite-specific nucleic acid aptamers with the sensitivity of resonant electromagnetic devices to capture and detect the disease-causing organism. While we accomplished the detection of parasite cells in dehydrated specimens, here we summarize our recent progress toward electromagnetic sensors capable of uncovering parasites in liquid patient samples. We present a technique for the removal of blood cells from blood specimens and the deposition of trypanosome cells on glass microfiber membranes for dielectric spectrometry. Liquid suspensions of trypanosomes are characterized to determine the actual dielectric properties of single parasites and lastly, we present two sensor concepts optimized for the detection in liquids, along with a fabrication technique for the integration of microfluidic sample confinements.

中文翻译：

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在现场兼容的液体系统中基于毫米波检测非洲锥虫的概念

人类非洲锥虫病 (HAT) 是由非洲锥虫引起的，这是一种在感染患者的血液和脑脊液中增殖的单细胞寄生虫。这种病原体的诊断措施目前还不够稳健和可靠，不足以进行有效的疾病控制程序。因此，我们建议开发一种新的传感器类型，将寄生虫特异性核酸适体的选择性与共振电磁装置的灵敏度相结合，以捕获和检测致病微生物。虽然我们完成了脱水标本中寄生虫细胞的检测，但在这里我们总结了我们最近在能够发现液体患者样本中寄生虫的电磁传感器方面取得的进展。我们提出了一种从血液样本中去除血细胞并将锥虫细胞沉积在玻璃微纤维膜上用于介电光谱测定的技术。锥虫的液体悬浮液的特点是确定单个寄生虫的实际介电特性，最后，我们提出了两种针对液体检测优化的传感器概念，以及一种用于集成微流体样品限制的制造技术。