Invited Paper NM-MoM5
Nanomaterials for Creating Sensitive and Selective Biosensing Interfaces

Monday, December 3, 2018, 9:20 am, Room Naupaka Salon 5

Biosensors bring together biorecognition and signal transduction to analyze biologically relevant targets. The performance metrics of biosensors, such as limit-of-detection and speed, are strongly influenced by their structure. Designing material architectures that increase the sensor sensitivity, decrease background signals, and reduce analysis time is critical for entering biosensors into clinical decision making and health monitoring. Through this work, we have developed strategies for creating three-dimensional electrodes, combining them with biorecognition and self-cleaning interfaces, and translating biorecognition into electrochemical signals.

Porous and wrinkled hierarchical electrodes are created through self-assembly, electroless deposition, and bulking enabled by shape memory polymer substrates. Biorecognition is achieved by combining functionalized electrodes with molecular machines created using DNA nanotechnology. Self-cleaning is achieved using strategies that transform electrodes to omniphobic surface. Signal transduction is performed by electrochemical and photoelectrochemical readout using photo-active electrodes.

Three-dimensional electrodes, biorecognition elements, and signal transduction components are integrated into microfluidic networks for sensing small molecules, nucleic acids, and proteins. This integrated biosensing platform is used for analyzing clinical samples, and a test with a clinically-relevant limit-of-detection is achieved for diagnosing endometriosis.