Development of a Protein Biochip Platform for Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by severe motor symptoms which lead to progressive weakness of motor function caused by prominent loss of dopamine-secreting neurons within the substantia nigra. Compelling neuropathological evidence reveals the accumulation of insoluble protein aggregates, such as α-synuclein and tau, which are important hallmarks of the disease. Protein biochips have great potential to be powerful tools for clinical diagnostics, whereas novel sensing methods implementing biosensors for protein quantification in body fluids are highly required. Herein, the development of a device using a thin film of conductive polymer acid-doped polyaniline that can detect specific biomolecules is examined. The polymer is shown to change conductivity in the presence of proteins, so this direct chemical to electric transduction can be used to quantify concentration alterations. The fabrication of such a device is proposed, so that it can be implemented in rapid screening tests as part of an integrated holistic point-of-care diagnostics model that brings together a multidisciplinary healthcare team of PD experts.