Location of Biomarkers and Reagents within Agarose Beads of a Programmable Bio-nano-chip

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2011-03, Vol.7 (5), p.613-624
• Main Authors: Jokerst, Jesse V., Chou, Jie, Camp, James P., Wong, Jorge, Lennart, Alexis, Pollard, Amanda A., Floriano, Pierre N., Christodoulides, Nicolaos, Simmons, Glennon W., Zhou, Yanjie, Ali, Mehnaaz F., McDevitt, John T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: agarose; biomarker capture; Biomarkers - analysis; in vitro diagnostics; Indicators and Reagents - chemistry; Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; microfluidics; Microspheres; nanodevices; nanonet; programmable bio-nano-chips; Sepharose - chemistry
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201002089

The slow development of cost‐effective medical microdevices with strong analytical performance characteristics is due to a lack of selective and efficient analyte capture and signaling. The recently developed programmable bio‐nano‐chip (PBNC) is a flexible detection device with analytical behavior rivaling established macroscopic methods. The PBNC system employs ≈300 μm‐diameter bead sensors composed of agarose “nanonets” that populate a microelectromechanical support structure with integrated microfluidic elements. The beads are an efficient and selective protein‐capture medium suitable for the analysis of complex fluid samples. Microscopy and computational studies probe the 3D interior of the beads. The relative contributions that the capture and detection of moieties, analyte size, and bead porosity make to signal distribution and intensity are reported. Agarose pore sizes ranging from 45 to 620 nm are examined and those near 140 nm provide optimal transport characteristics for rapid (