Trace Oxygen Affects Osmium Redox Polymer Synthesis for Wired Enzymatic Biosensors

Electrochemical sensors that utilize enzymes are a sensitive, inexpensive means of detecting biologically relevant analytes. These sensors are categorized based on their construction and method of signal transport. Type I sensors consist of a crosslinked enzyme on an electrode surface, and are potentially subject to interference from byproducts and other biological analytes. However, type II sensors help alleviate this problem with the addition of a redox polymer layer that assists in signal transduction, thus minimizing interferences. An osmium-loaded poly(vinylimidazole) polymer (Os-PVI) is commonly used with successful results, and when combined with an enzyme yields a type II sensor. Our initial attempts at the synthesis of this polymer resulted in an unexpected osmium precursor, which had fluorescent and redox properties that did not match with the desired Os-PVI polymer. Careful exclusion of oxygen during the Os complex precursor synthesis was necessary to avoid this unexpected oxygen containing Os-precursor, which had been seen previously in mass spectrometry studies. All precursors and osmium polymers were characterized with 1H NMR, fluorescence, mass spectrometry, and cyclic voltammetry in order to provide a better understanding of these compounds and assist in the building of new sensors.

A Numerical Investigation of a Plasmonic Sensor Based on a Metal-Insulator-Metal Waveguide for Simultaneous Detection of Biological Analytes and Ambient Temperature

A multipurpose plasmonic sensor design based on a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide is numerically investigated in this paper. The proposed design can be instantaneously employed for biosensing and temperature sensing applications. The sensor consists of two simple resonant cavities having a square and circular shape, with the side coupled to an MIM bus waveguide. For biosensing operation, the analytes can be injected into the square cavity while a thermo-optic polymer is deposited in the circular cavity, which provides a shift in resonance wavelength according to the variation in ambient temperature. Both sensing processes work independently. Each cavity provides a resonance dip at a distinct position in the transmission spectrum of the sensor, which does not obscure the analysis process. Such a simple configuration embedded in the single-chip can potentially provide a sensitivity of 700 nm/RIU and −0.35 nm/°C for biosensing and temperature sensing, respectively. Furthermore, the figure of merit (FOM) for the biosensing module and temperature sensing module is around 21.9 and 0.008, respectively. FOM is the ratio between the sensitivity of the device and width of the resonance dip. We suppose that the suggested sensor design can be valuable in twofold ways: (i) in the scenarios where the testing of the biological analytes should be conducted in a controlled temperature environment and (ii) for reducing the influence on ambient temperature fluctuations on refractometric measurements in real-time mode.

Electrochemical Sandwich Assays for Biomarkers Incorporating Aptamers, Antibodies and Nanomaterials for Detection of Specific Protein Biomarkers

The development of sensitive and selective assays for protein biomarkers and other biological analytes is important for advancing the fields of clinical diagnostics and bioanalytical chemistry. The potential advantages of using aptamers in electrochemical sandwich assays are being increasingly recognized. These assays may include an aptamer as both capture and detection agent or a combination of an aptamer with a different partner such as an antibody, a lectin or a nanomaterial. The second binding partner in the sandwich structure is typically conjugated to a redox marker, a catalyst or an enzyme that can be used to generate the signal needed for electrochemical detection. Nanoparticles and other nanostructures can be used as the carriers for multiple molecules of the detection partner and thereby increase the signal. Nanostructured surfaces can be used to increase surface area and improve electron transfer. Sensitive electrochemical methods including impedance, differential and square-wave voltammetry and chronocoulometry have been used for electrochemical signal read-out. Impressive results have been achieved using electrochemical sandwich assays in terms of limit of detection and linear range for a growing range of analytes. The recent progress for this type of assay for proteins and other biomarkers is the subject of this review.

Leaky and waveguide modes in biperiodic holograms

This study details a theoretical analysis of leaky and waveguide modes in biperiodic all-dielectric holograms. By tuning diffraction orders and subsequently confining local density of optical states at two distinct resonance wavelengths, we present a new class of highly sensitive refractive index biosensing platforms that are capable of resolving 35.5 to 41.3 nm/RIU of spectral shift for two separate biological analytes.

Materials and Methods of Biosensor Interfaces With Stability

Biosensors can convert the concentration of biological analytes into an electrical signal or other signals for detection. They are widely used in medical diagnostics, food safety, process control, and environmental monitoring fields. In recent years, new schemes of stable biosensor interfaces have attracted much attention. Interface design is a vital part of biosensor development, since its stability can be directly related to the quality of sensing performance such as sensitivity, stability, and linearity. This review summarized the latest methods and materials used to construct stable biosensor interfaces and pointed some future perspectives and challenges of them. From the literature, we found that nanomaterials, polymers, and their composites such as chitosan, cellulose, and conducting polymers are the most common materials used in the biosensor interface design. Apart from materials, there are increasing developments in monolayer membrane techniques, three-dimensional constructions, and other interface techniques. This review is a study of the latest progress in biosensor interface stability solutions, which may provide some references and innovative directions of biosensor interface design for researchers in biosensor fields and encourage people to further explore new materials and methods.

A Thread/Fabric-Based Band as A Flexible and Wearable Microfluidic Device for Sweat Sensing and Monitoring

Flexible biosensors for monitoring systems have emerged as a promising portable diagnostics platform due to their potential for in situ point-of-care (POC) analytic devices. Assessment of biological analytes in sweat...

Exploring the Potential of Peptides and Peptidomimetics in Biosensing

Biosensors are devices that capture the biological signal and convert it into a detectable electrical signal through transduction. Biological entities like DNA, RNA, and proteins/enzymes can be conjugated onto the biosensor surface to detect and observe certain biological analytes in environment, biomedical, and food industries. Peptides have been efficiently used in the fabrication of peptide-based biosensors due to their attractive properties like established synthesis protocols, diverse structures, and as highly enzyme-selective substrates. However, owing to their labile nature, peptidomimetics are the best alternatives at the bioreceptor interface due to their specificity and stability, relatively low cost and easy modifications, and capability to form supramolecular assemblies like nanosheets. Such bioconjugation strategies efficiently convert interaction information into a measurable signal, thus highlighting the importance in the fabrication of next-generation novel robust biosensors desirable for detection and dissemination of pathogens causing infections in the living and non-living worlds.