A device developed by a team of Portuguese scientists can save this plant of the nematode.
Elisabeth Borges, as part of her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Coimbra, has developed a device that enables early detection of the nematode, a disease that affects the pines. A dissertation that was recognized by the "Best Student Paper Award" and presented in "Biodevices 2013", an international conference of biodevices, which took place in Barcelona.
The gadget operates by electrical impedance spectroscopy, that is, the machine has two electrodes which are placed on the trunk about 30 centimeters of the soil. One of the poles injects a current or voltage and the other electrode collects the signal generated by this stimulation. Then in laboratory investigators analyze the data collected. This method is capable of identifying if a tissue is healthy or damaged, if the nematode is important, since the device is designed to detect alterations in the tree, however, does not indicators of what is the kind of disease. The technique developed by the research team at the University of Coimbra led by Elisabeth Borges is minimally invasive, faster and financially advantageous compared with other current laboratory techniques. At this time, tests are being conducted on other technological applications in order to improve the prototype to make it more accessible to the commercial market.
