Development of a PCB-based electrochemical aptasensor for Chikungunya virus protein detection

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral infection, and its accurate identification is critical to avoid misdiagnosis. Herein, we demonstrate the development of a cost-effective, printed circuit board (PCB)-based biosensor platform to detect the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) E1 protein. A gold-coated PCB sensor that requires only ∼10 µL of sample for analysis was fabricated. To detect the virus protein, an aptamer-based sensing platform was developed. Electrochemical characterization was carried out via square wave voltammetry (SWV). An S-shaped calibration curve was obtained, with a linear response in the 5 pM-100 nM range and a limit of detection of 10 pM. Specificity and real-sample analysis using human blood serum revealed high selectivity toward CHIKV E1, with a signal recovery rate of 93-102%. Overall, our findings indicate that the developed electrochemical sensor platform is a promising tool for the sensitive and specific detection of the Chikungunya virus protein.