Molecular sentinel-on-chip for SERS-based biosensing.

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Molecular Diagnostics

Background:

• Advanced DNA detection is crucial for medical applications like high-throughput screening, diagnostics, and systems biology.
• Existing methods often require labels or lack scalability for large-area applications.
• Plasmonics-active platforms offer enhanced sensitivity for molecular detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel molecular sentinel-on-chip (MSC) technology for label-free, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based DNA detection.
• To demonstrate the fabrication of large-area, reproducible plasmonics-active biosensing platforms.
• To validate the technology using a breast cancer biomarker DNA sequence.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of triangular-shaped nanowire (TSNW) arrays with sub-10 nm gaps on a 6-inch wafer using deep UV lithography, atomic layer deposition, and metal deposition.
• Development of "molecular sentinel-on-chip" (MSC) technology for SERS-based detection.
• Label-free detection of specific DNA sequences, including the Ki-67 gene.

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of uniform TSNW arrays across an entire 6-inch wafer.
• Demonstration of label-free DNA detection using the MSC technology on the fabricated SERS platform.
• Detection of the Ki-67 gene, a breast cancer biomarker, showcasing the platform's potential.

Conclusions:

• The developed MSC technology provides a novel, label-free SERS-based method for DNA detection.
• The wafer-scale fabrication ensures reproducibility and scalability for medical applications.
• This technology holds significant promise for high-throughput screening, medical diagnosis, and systems biology research.