DNA test detects low-level uranium
By Greg Kline
Sunday February 25, 2007
John Dixon
University of Illinois chemistry Professor Yi Lu talks about how the DNA sensor for uranium developed by his lab works while standing next to a model of a standard double-stranded DNA molecule at the Chemical & Life Sciences Building in Urbana.
Yi Lu and his colleagues, who already showed how synthetic DNA molecules could be used to detect toxic lead at very low levels, have now turned the technique to detecting radioactive uranium in tiny amounts.
Their DNA sensor can detect traces of uranium contamination nearly 3,000 times lower than the level considered hazardous to human health, the UI chemistry professor said recently. The technology eventually might be contained in a fast and easily portable on-site testing system for uranium.
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