Magnetic Microfluidic Biosensor for Detection and Quantification of Biomolecules

Accurate quantification of adsorbed biomolecules is of great importance in the field of biomedicine and biotechnology; for example, in order to understand the biomolecular interactions on surfaces or when working with proteins in determining a binding constant or measure enzyme kinetics. Even in cases of qualitative studies, having concrete information of how much protein is expressed enables comparative studies among experimental procedures and among proteins. Moreover, the ability to detect and quantify varying concentrations of biomarkers provides unique insight into cellular responses to external stimuli or disease pressures on an organism. The quantification of lipids is also of interest to analytical chemists when comparing lipid concentration in various functioning and diseased organisms from e.g. cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke etc. Another analyte gaining considerable attention is the serum auto-antibodies due to their biomedical relevance. Systemic auto-antibodies detection would facilitate the diagnostics of autoimmune disorders, evaluate their treatment and the sustained damage in organs. More interestingly the presence of certain antibodies in the system is considered an increasingly important expression of diseases such as some types of cancer. There exist several methods for measuring the amount of biomolecules usually attached to surfaces, such as ELISA, ellipsometry, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). However, these techniques are rather expensive, require highly qualified personnel and their accuracy has not yet been fully explored. In this project we propose a novel, multiplex, portable microfluidic biosensor for detection and quantification of biomolecules, such as proteins (or other biomarkers), antibodies, DNA strands and anti-cancer drugs conjugated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles, suspended in a static fluid. This way, the detection and quantification of biomolecules is simplified and accelerated due to real-time detection. Quantification hands-on time is reduced, and sample throughput can be increased using automation and efficient data evaluation with the appropriate software.

Accurate quantification of adsorbed biomolecules is of great importance in the field of biomedicine and biotechnology; for example, in order to understand the biomolecular interactions on surfaces or when working with proteins in determining a binding constant or measure enzyme kinetics. Even in cases of qualitative studies, having concrete information of how much protein is expressed enables comparative studies among experimental procedures and among proteins. Moreover, the ability to detect and quantify varying concentrations of biomarkers provides unique insight into cellular responses to external stimuli or disease pressures on an organism. The quantification of lipids is also of interest to analytical chemists when comparing lipid concentration in various functioning and diseased organisms from e.g. cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke etc. Another analyte gaining considerable attention is the serum auto-antibodies due to their biomedical relevance. Systemic auto-antibodies detection would facilitate the diagnostics of autoimmune disorders, evaluate their treatment and the sustained damage in organs. More interestingly the presence of certain antibodies in the system is considered an increasingly important expression of diseases such as some types of cancer. There exist several methods for measuring the amount of biomolecules usually attached to surfaces, such as ELISA, ellipsometry, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). However, these techniques are rather expensive, require highly qualified personnel and their accuracy has not yet been fully explored. During this project a novel, multiplex, portable microfluidic biosensor for detection and quantification of biomolecules, such as proteins (or other biomarkers), antibodies, DNA strands and anti-cancer drugs conjugated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles, suspended in a static fluid was developed. This way, the detection and quantification of biomolecules is simplified and accelerated due to real-time detection. Quantification hands-on time is reduced, and sample throughput can be increased using automation and efficient data evaluation with the appropriate software.