Harnessing Selectivity and Sensitivity in Electronic Biosensing: A Novel Lab-on-Chip Multigate Organic Transistor

Area of Science:

• Organic electronics
• Biosensing technology
• Lab-on-a-chip devices

Background:

• Electrolyte-gated organic transistors (EGOFETs) show promise as ultrasensitive biosensors.
• Reducing nonspecific interactions is crucial for enhancing selectivity in biosensing.
• Accurate detection of inflammatory cytokines like TNFα is vital for disease monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel lab-on-a-chip device integrating a multigate EGOFET for enhanced biosensing.
• To assess the reproducibility and selectivity of the EGOFET sensing platform.
• To demonstrate the device's capability for quantifying specific biomarkers.

Main Methods:

• Integration of a multigate electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistor (EGOFET) with a microfluidics setup.
• Utilizing an internal reference electrode to evaluate device selectivity.
• Performing triplicate measurements to ensure response reproducibility.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated efficient operation of a pentacene-based EGOFET sensing platform.
• Achieved quantification of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) with a detection limit as low as 3 pM.
• Confirmed statistically solid, reliable, and selective responses on microliter sample volumes within minutes.

Conclusions:

• The developed multiplexable organic electronic lab-on-chip offers a robust platform for sensitive and selective biomarker detection.
• The device meets key performance indicators for point-of-care diagnostics, enabling rapid analysis of small sample volumes.
• This technology has significant potential for monitoring inflammatory cytokines and aiding in disease diagnosis.