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Chalklen T, Jing Q, Kar-Narayan S. Biosensors Based on Mechanical and Electrical Detection Techniques. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2020; 20:E5605. [PMID: 33007906 PMCID: PMC7584018 DOI: 10.3390/s20195605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Revised: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Biosensors are powerful analytical tools for biology and biomedicine, with applications ranging from drug discovery to medical diagnostics, food safety, and agricultural and environmental monitoring. Typically, biological recognition receptors, such as enzymes, antibodies, and nucleic acids, are immobilized on a surface, and used to interact with one or more specific analytes to produce a physical or chemical change, which can be captured and converted to an optical or electrical signal by a transducer. However, many existing biosensing methods rely on chemical, electrochemical and optical methods of identification and detection of specific targets, and are often: complex, expensive, time consuming, suffer from a lack of portability, or may require centralised testing by qualified personnel. Given the general dependence of most optical and electrochemical techniques on labelling molecules, this review will instead focus on mechanical and electrical detection techniques that can provide information on a broad range of species without the requirement of labelling. These techniques are often able to provide data in real time, with good temporal sensitivity. This review will cover the advances in the development of mechanical and electrical biosensors, highlighting the challenges and opportunities therein.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Qingshen Jing
- Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK;
| | - Sohini Kar-Narayan
- Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK;
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Parmeggiani M, Verna A, Ballesio A, Cocuzza M, Piatti E, Fra V, Pirri CF, Marasso SL. P3HT Processing Study for In-Liquid EGOFET Biosensors: Effects of the Solvent and the Surface. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2019; 19:E4497. [PMID: 31627267 PMCID: PMC6832883 DOI: 10.3390/s19204497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2019] [Revised: 10/11/2019] [Accepted: 10/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
In-liquid biosensing is the new frontier of health and environment monitoring. A growing number of analytes and biomarkers of interest correlated to different diseases have been found, and the miniaturized devices belonging to the class of biosensors represent an accurate and cost-effective solution to obtaining their recognition. In this study, we investigate the effect of the solvent and of the substrate modification on thin films of organic semiconductor Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in order to improve the stability and electrical properties of an Electrolyte Gated Organic Field Effect Transistor (EGOFET) biosensor. The studied surface is the relevant interface between the P3HT and the electrolyte acting as gate dielectric for in-liquid detection of an analyte. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) characterizations were employed to study the effect of two solvents (toluene and 1,2-dichlorobenzene) and of a commercial adhesion promoter (Ti Prime) on the morphological structure and electronic properties of P3HT film. Combining the results from these surface characterizations with electrical measurements, we investigate the changes on the EGOFET performances and stability in deionized (DI) water with an Ag/AgCl gate electrode.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Parmeggiani
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Center for Sustainable Future Technologies, Via Livorno 60, 10144 Torino, Italy.
| | - Alessio Verna
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
| | - Alberto Ballesio
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
| | - Matteo Cocuzza
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
| | - Erik Piatti
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
| | - Vittorio Fra
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
| | - Candido Fabrizio Pirri
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Center for Sustainable Future Technologies, Via Livorno 60, 10144 Torino, Italy.
| | - Simone Luigi Marasso
- Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
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Tan ZQ, Chen YC, Zhang NH. Theoretical Analysis for Bending of Single-Stranded DNA Adsorption on Microcantilever Sensors. SENSORS 2018; 18:s18092812. [PMID: 30149675 PMCID: PMC6163529 DOI: 10.3390/s18092812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2018] [Revised: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
An energy-based model is presented to establish the bending deformation of microcantilever beams induced by single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) adsorption. The total free energy of the DNA-microcantilever sensor was obtained by considering the excluded-volume energy and the polymer stretching energy of DNA chains from mean-field theory, and the mechanical energy of three non-biological layers. The radius of curvature and deflection of the cantilever were determined through the minimum principle of energy. The efficiency of the present model was confirmed through comparison with experimental data. The effects of length, grafting density, salt concentration, thickness, and elastic modulus of substrate on tip deflections are also discussed in this paper. These factors can significantly affect the deflections of the biosensor. This work demonstrates that it is useful to develop a theoretical model for the label-free nanomechanical detection technique.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zou-Qing Tan
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China.
| | - Yang-Chun Chen
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China.
| | - Neng-Hui Zhang
- Shanghai Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China.
- Department of Mechanics, College of Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
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Stassi S, Chiadò A, Cauda V, Palmara G, Canavese G, Laurenti M, Ricciardi C. Functionalized ZnO nanowires for microcantilever biosensors with enhanced binding capability. Anal Bioanal Chem 2017; 409:2615-2625. [DOI: 10.1007/s00216-017-0204-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2016] [Revised: 12/22/2016] [Accepted: 01/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
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Succinic anhydride functionalized microcantilevers for protein immobilization and quantification. Anal Bioanal Chem 2016; 408:7917-7926. [DOI: 10.1007/s00216-016-9920-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2016] [Revised: 06/27/2016] [Accepted: 08/31/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Resonating Behaviour of Nanomachined Holed Microcantilevers. Sci Rep 2015; 5:17837. [PMID: 26643936 PMCID: PMC4672296 DOI: 10.1038/srep17837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2015] [Accepted: 10/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The nanofabrication of a nanomachined holed structure localized on the free end of a microcantilever is here presented, as a new tool to design micro-resonators with enhanced mass sensitivity. The proposed method allows both for the reduction of the sensor oscillating mass and the increment of the resonance frequency, without decreasing the active surface of the device. A theoretical analysis based on the Rayleigh method was developed to predict resonance frequency, effective mass, and effective stiffness of nanomachined holed microresonators. Analytical results were checked by Finite Element simulations, confirming an increase of the theoretical mass sensitivity up to 250%, without altering other figures of merit. The nanomachined holed resonators were vibrationally characterized, and their Q-factor resulted comparable with solid microcantilevers with same planar dimensions.
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Wu S, Liu X, Zhou X, Liang XM, Gao D, Liu H, Zhao G, Zhang Q, Wu X. Quantification of cell viability and rapid screening anti-cancer drug utilizing nanomechanical fluctuation. Biosens Bioelectron 2015; 77:164-73. [PMID: 26406457 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2015.09.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2015] [Revised: 08/31/2015] [Accepted: 09/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Cancer is a serious threat to human health. Although numerous anti-cancer drugs are available clinically, many have shown toxic side effects due to poor tumor-selectivity, and reduced effectiveness due to cancers rapid development of resistance to treatment. The development of new highly efficient and practical methods to quantify cell viability and its change under drug treatment is thus of significant importance in both understanding of anti-cancer mechanism and anti-cancer drug screening. Here, we present an approach of utilizing a nanomechanical fluctuation based highly sensitive microcantilever sensor, which is capable of characterizing the viability of cells and quantitatively screening (within tens of minutes) their responses to a drug with the obvious advantages of a rapid, label-free, quantitative, noninvasive, real-time and in-situ assay. The microcantilever sensor operated in fluctuation mode was used in evaluating the paclitaxel effectiveness on breast cancer cell line MCF-7. This study demonstrated that the nanomechanical fluctuations of the microcantilever sensor are sensitive enough to detect the dynamic variation in cellular force which is provided by the cytoskeleton, using cell metabolism as its energy source, and the dynamic instability of microtubules plays an important role in the generation of the force. We propose that cell viability consists of two parts: biological viability and mechanical viability. Our experimental results suggest that paclitaxel has little effect on biological viability, but has a significant effect on mechanical viability. This new method provides a new concept and strategy for the evaluation of cell viability and the screening of anti-cancer drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shangquan Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Material, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China; Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Xiaoli Liu
- Department of Electronic Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Xiarong Zhou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Material, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
| | - Xin M Liang
- Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Dayong Gao
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Hong Liu
- Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
| | - Gang Zhao
- Department of Electronic Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
| | - Qingchuan Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Material, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China; Center for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
| | - Xiaoping Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Material, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
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Rational modification of estrogen receptor by combination of computational and experimental analysis. PLoS One 2014; 9:e102658. [PMID: 25075862 PMCID: PMC4116177 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2014] [Accepted: 06/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In this manuscript, we modulate the binding properties of estrogen receptor protein by rationally modifying the amino acid composition of its ligand binding domain. By combining sequence alignment and structural analysis of known estrogen receptor-ligand complexes with computational analysis, we were able to predict estrogen receptor mutants with altered binding properties. These predictions were experimentally confirmed by producing single point variants with up to an order of magnitude increased binding affinity towards some estrogen disrupting chemicals and reaching an half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 2 nM for the 17α-ethinylestradiol ligand. Due to increased affinity and stability, utilizing such mutated estrogen receptor instead of the wild type as bio-recognition element would be beneficial in an assay or biosensor.
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