Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) have designed a new type of nanosensor. This solution, based on artificial intelligence, will be used to design specific drugs to treat diseases or pathologies.

Aurelian John-Herpin, Deepthy Kavungal, Lea von Mücke and Hatice Altug, director of the Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory at the Faculty of Engineering, have published the results of their research to present their solution. These nanosensors will be able, thanks to their integrated artificial intelligence, to identify different categories of biomolecules without altering their function. Aurelian John-Herpin, PhD assistant in the Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory, said:

“It is conceivable that each molecule has its own characteristic “melody” if we imagine audio frequencies instead of infrared frequencies. However, it is very difficult to listen to these melodies because, without amplification, they are just whispers in a sea of sound. To make matters worse, their melodies can have very similar patterns, making it difficult to distinguish one from another.”

In an attempt to monitor the major classes of biomolecules in the nanoworld without disrupting it, several tools have been used in the design of these nanosensors.

• The first tool is infrared light. Since molecules vibrate at frequencies located mainly in the infrared frequency range, the use of infrared light allows nanosensors to work at the same frequency as the molecules and therefore not to disturb them.
• Metasurfaces are the second tool used: man-made, they allow the “manipulation” of light on a nanometric scale, and are associated with the infrared light of the nanosensors.
• The last tool, and not the least, is the use of artificial intelligence: all the frequencies of the molecules are compiled in this artificial intelligence, which then recognizes the molecule by comparing its database with the frequency emitted by the molecule.

These nanosensors are the result of a symbiotic work between nanotechnology, metasurfaces, infrared light and artificial intelligence, promoting research in the field of bionanomolecules to contribute to medical research.

Translated from L’Ecole Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne conçoit de nouveaux nanocapteurs basés sur l’IA