By: IPP Bureau
Last updated : June 02, 2026 10:24 am
Novel fluorescent nanosensor enables real-time detection of indole-3-propionic acid (IPA), paving the way for faster gut health screening, point-of-care diagnostics, and wearable monitoring devices
Researchers from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (NIE NTU, Singapore) and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, in collaboration with clinicians from the National University Hospital and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, have developed a novel fluorescent nanosensor capable of rapidly detecting indole-3-propionic acid (IPA), an emerging biomarker associated with gut health and several chronic diseases.
IPA is a metabolite produced by gut bacteria and plays a key role in regulating inflammation and oxidative stress and has been linked to conditions such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Type 2 Diabetes and liver disease.
Existing methods for measuring IPA rely on mass spectrometry, which can be expensive, time-consuming and difficult to deploy in routine clinical settings.
The newly developed platform is the first reported optical nanosensor specifically designed to detect IPA. Using a fluorescence-based approach, the sensor delivers results within minutes and offers a faster, more accessible alternative to traditional laboratory techniques.
Importantly, it can distinguish IPA from structurally similar metabolites commonly present in the gut, enabling accurate measurements even in complex biological samples such as blood serum.
“This is the first time we are able to directly and rapidly measure IPA levels in biological samples using an optical nanosensor,” said Assistant Professor Mervin Ang, NIE, and co-first author, who was also Associate Scientific Director at SMART DiSTAP when the research was initiated.
The findings were published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials in a paper titled Fluorescent Nanosensor for Indole-3-Propionic Acid Detection in Gut Health Monitoring.
The innovation builds on earlier work by SMART’s Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) research group, which originally developed nano- and optical-sensing technologies for monitoring plant health and stress responses.
“This work builds on technology at SMART DiSTAP on molecular recognition. We have used techniques like this to measure hormones and metabolites in living plants for agriculture, and have now applied it to the human gastrointestinal system. We were able to apply it to this long-standing challenge in gut health,” said Professor Michael Strano, SMART DiSTAP Lead Principal Investigator, Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, and corresponding author.
To assess clinical relevance, the researchers tested the nanosensor on 125 human plasma samples collected from healthy individuals and patients with gastrointestinal disorders.
“From a clinical perspective, having a rapid and minimally complex way to assess metabolite levels like IPA could be very valuable,” said Adjunct Associate Professor Jonathan Lee, Senior Consultant, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, NUH and NUS Medicine, and co-first author. “It has the potential to complement existing diagnostic tools and provide additional insights into patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.”