Capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (cMUT) for immunosensor design

• Published in: Analyst (London) 2010-07, Vol.135 (7), p.1531-1534
• Main Authors: Ramanaviciene, Almira, Virzonis, Darius, Vanagas, Gailius, Ramanavicius, Ar nas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical chemistry; Animals; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Biosensing Techniques - instrumentation; Biosensing Techniques - methods; Bovine leukemia virus; Cattle; Chemistry; Electrochemical methods; Equipment Design; Exact sciences and technology; General, instrumentation; Leukemia Virus, Bovine - immunology; Ultrasonics; Viral Proteins - immunology
• ISSN: 0003-2654; 1364-5528
• DOI: 10.1039/c0an00104j

An affinity sensor based on a capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (cMUT) is reported by this Communication. The cMUT micromembrane arrays modified with adsorbed bovine leukemia virus protein gp 51 were applied as a biological recognition part. The cMUT-based sensor is shown to be sensitive to the antibodies against bovine leukemia virus protein gp 51 (anti- gp 51). Two different concentrations of anti- gp 51-containing samples and one blank sample without anti- gp 51 were tested. The sensitivity of cMUT-based immunosensor is comparable with the sensitivity of a quartz microbalance-based immunosensor. The cMUT array provides a multi-channel system for the measurement of analytical signal. Moreover, two different characteristics - the resonance frequency shift (Δ f ) and the shift of the real part of the electromechanical impedance (ΔRe) - could have been evaluated simultaneously. Both analytical signals are informative and can be applied for the estimation of immune complex formation. We found the performance of such a system being potentially superior over some other immunosensing techniques. It is more rapid than electrochemical techniques and provides two different informative parameters. An affinity biosensor based on a capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (cMUT) is reported. The cMUT-based sensor is shown to be sensitive to target antibodies. Two cMUT generated analytical signals: (i) changes of resonance frequency and (ii) changes in the real part of the electromechanical impedance of cMUT were evaluated.