Microwaves + Nanoparticles = Ultrafast, Ultrasensitive Assays

Using a relatively new technique that relies on silver nanoparticles to amplify a diagnostic fluorescent signal and low power microwaves to accelerate binding of a diagnostically important molecule with the protein used to detect it, researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, have created a new type of assay that could speed the detection of cancer at its earliest stages.