Towards maintenance-free biosensors for hundreds of bind/release cycles

A single aptamer bioreceptor layer was formed using a common streptavidin-biotin immobilization strategy and employed for 100-365 bind/release cycles. Chemically induced aptamer unfolding and release of its bound target was accomplished using alkaline solutions with high salt concentrations or deionized (DI) water. The use of DI water scavenged from the ambient atmosphere represents a first step towards maintenance-free biosensors that do not require the storage of liquid reagents. The aptamer binding affinity was determined by surface plasmon resonance and found to be almost constant over 100-365 bind/release cycles with a variation of less than 5% relative standard deviation. This reversible operation of biosensors based on immobilized aptamers without storage of liquid reagents introduces a conceptually new perspective in biosensing. Such new biosensing capability will be important for distributed sensor networks, sensors in resource-limited settings, and wearable sensor applications.