A reagentless, disposable and multiplexed electronic biosensing platform: application to molecular logic gates

Area of Science:

• * Biomedical Engineering
• * Analytical Chemistry
• * Nanotechnology

Background:

• * Simultaneous determination of diverse biomolecules (proteins and small molecules) remains challenging.
• * Existing sensing platforms often lack sensitivity, disposability, or multiplexing capabilities.
• * Development of reagentless and sensitive biosensors is crucial for point-of-care diagnostics.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To construct a reagentless, sensitive, disposable, and multiplexed electronic sensing platform.
• * To achieve simultaneous determination of biomolecules with significant size differences.
• * To demonstrate the platform's application in molecular logic gate operations.

Main Methods:

• * Fabrication of a sensing surface via hybridization of redox-tagged aptamers with complementary DNA.
• * Self-assembly of aptamer-DNA complexes on gold nanoparticle-modified screen-printed carbon electrodes.
• * Detection principle based on the release of tagged aptamers upon target analyte binding.

Main Results:

• * The platform successfully achieved simultaneous determination of proteins and small molecules.
• * Analyte presence caused the release of tagged aptamers, with remaining tags showing distinct signals.
• * Signal position and size correlated with analyte identity and concentration, respectively.
• * Demonstrated feasibility for molecular logic gate operations.

Conclusions:

• * The proposed electronic sensing platform offers a sensitive, disposable, and multiplexed approach for simultaneous biomolecule detection.
• * The reagentless system simplifies analysis and holds potential for point-of-care applications.
• * The platform's adaptability for molecular logic operations expands its utility in advanced biosensing.