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Published on: September 16, 2014
Functionalized etched tilted fiber Bragg grating aptasensor for label-free protein detection
Marzhan Sypabekova1, Sanzhar Korganbayev2, Álvaro González-Vila3
1PI National Laboratory Astana, Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioinstruments, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, 010000, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan; School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, 010000, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
A novel aptasensor using etched tilted fiber Bragg gratings (eTFBG) enhances biomolecule detection sensitivity. This optical fiber sensor offers a cost-effective and efficient platform for detecting specific biomarkers like thrombin.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Optical Sensors
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are widely used in sensing applications.
- Tilted Fiber Bragg Gratings (TFBGs) offer enhanced sensitivity for refractive index (RI) measurements.
- Chemical etching can further improve TFBG performance by modifying the fiber cladding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and characterize an aptasensor based on an etched tilted fiber Bragg grating (eTFBG) for sensitive biomolecule detection.
- To investigate the impact of chemical etching on the RI sensitivity of TFBGs.
- To demonstrate the efficacy of the eTFBG aptasensor for detecting thrombin-aptamer interactions.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of TFBGs on single-mode optical fibers.
- Chemical etching of TFBGs using hydrofluoric acid (HF) to create eTFBGs.
- Characterization of RI sensitivity of eTFBGs across a specific RI range.
- Functionalization of eTFBGs with silane-coupling chemistry for aptamer immobilization.
- Testing the aptasensor's response to varying concentrations of thrombin.
Main Results:
- The etching process significantly increased the RI sensitivity of TFBGs, reaching up to 23.38 nm/RIU.
- The eTFBG aptasensor demonstrated improved RI sensitivity compared to unetched TFBGs.
- The sensor did not require metal deposition or polarization control for measurements.
- The aptasensor successfully detected thrombin-aptamer interactions with a sensitivity of 2.3 to 3.3 p.m./nM for thrombin concentrations from 2.5 to 40 nM.
Conclusions:
- Etched tilted fiber Bragg gratings provide a highly sensitive platform for optical biosensing.
- The developed eTFBG aptasensor is a promising tool for label-free detection of specific biomolecules.
- This approach offers advantages in terms of sensitivity, cost-effectiveness, and operational simplicity for biochemical assays.
