Nanostructured microelectrodes and biosensing devices incorporating the same
AssigneeThe Governing Council of the University of Toronto
InventorsLeyla Soleymani, Zhichao Fang, Shana Kelley, Edward Sargent, Bradford Taft
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Abstract
Nanostructured microelectrodes and biosensing devices incorporating the same are disclosed herein.
Claims21
A biosensing device comprising:
- a substrate;
- at least one electrically conductive lead on the substrate;
- an insulating layer covering the lead, the insulating layer having an aperture exposing a portion of the lead;
- a nanostructured microelectrode adapted by means of an electrocatalytic reporter system to generate a charge in response to a biomolecular stimulus, wherein the nanostructured microelectrode is fractal;
- at least one probe molecule attached to said microelectrode;
- and
- wherein said microelectrode is in electrical communication with the exposed portion of the lead.
A biosensing cartridge comprising:
- a sample chamber comprising a biological sample;
- and
- a biosensing chamber containing a biosensing device comprising a nanostructured microelectrode, wherein the nanostructured microelectrode is fractal.
A method of detecting a biomolecular stimulus in a biological sample using a biosensing device comprising a nanostructured microelectrode, wherein said nanostructured microelectrode is fractal and includes a probe attached thereto, said method comprising:
- biasing the nanostructured microelectrode relative to a reference electrode;
- measuring a reference charge or reference current flow between the nanostructured microelectrode and the reference electrode;
- exposing the nanostructured microelectrode to the biological sample;
- measuring a charge or current flow generated at the nanostructured microelectrode with an electrocatalytic reporter system in response to the biomolecular stimulus;
- and
- determining the amount of biomolecular stimulus present by comparing the measured charge or measured current flow against the reference charge or reference current flow.
A method of detecting the presence of a biomarker in a biological sample using a biosensing device comprising a nanostructured microelectrode adapted to generate a charge in response to a hybridization or protein-to-protein interaction event, wherein said nanostructured microelectrode is fractal and includes a probe attached thereto capable of hybridizing or binding to the biomarker of interest, the method comprising:
- biasing the nanostructured microelectrode relative to a reference electrode;
- measuring a reference charge or reference current flow between the nanostructured microelectrode and the reference electrode;
- exposing the nanostructured microelectrode to the biological sample;
- measuring a charge or current flow generated at the nanostructured microelectrode in response to the hybridization or interaction of the probe with the biomarker of interest,
- wherein the presence of a charge or current flow as compared to the reference is indicative of the presence of the biomarker of interest.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.