A nanostructured aluminum oxide-based microfluidic device for enhancing immunoassay’s fluorescence and detection sensitivity

Abstract

A nanostructured aluminum oxide (NAO)-based fluorescence biosensing platform with a programmable sample delivery microfluidic interface is reported. The NAO-based fluorescence sensor can tremendously enhance the fluorescence signals, typically up to 100 × or more, over the glass substrate. The programmable sample delivery microfluidic interface, which is integrated with the NAO-based sensors, can automatically generate and deliver a series of different concentrations of the biological samples to each individual sensor. Hence it can facilitate the fluorescence-based biodetection and analysis for high throughput applications. Using Protein A and fluorophore-labeled Immunoglobulin G (IgG) as models, the binding between them on this platform have been demonstrated. It has been shown that the IgG of programmable concentrations can be delivered to individual sensor using the microfluidic interface and confirmed by the fluorescence images. Using current NAO-based fluorescence sensors without any optimization, the detectable concentration of IgG can be as low as 20 pg/mm(2) using a conventional fluorescence microscope. Due to its inexpensive fabrication process, this technology could provide a disposable technical platform for fluorescence-based sensing and analysis.

Measurement of serum prostate cancer markers using a nanopore thin film based optofluidic chip

“…The fabrication process of the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanopore thin film sensor has been described in detail (He at al., 2014; Li et al, 2014; Li et al, 2013; He et al, 2012). This chip, consisting of arrayed nanopore-based sensors, has been fabricated using a newly developed process (Yin et al, 2014, Che et al, 2015).…”

Microfluidic chip grafted with integrin tension sensors for evaluating the effects of flowing shear stress and ROCK inhibitor on platelets

“…The solution concentration gradient generator (Fig. 3C) was adapted from the tree-shaped microfluidic chip [38]. The size of the channels was 80 µm (height)  100 µm (width) with three inlets 1, 2, 3.…”

Opto-Microfluidic Immunosensors: From Colorimetric to Plasmonic

“…The photoluminescent intensity can be enhanced with metal nanostructures [ 39 ] and photonic crystals [ 40 ] fabricated on the sensor. Li et al [ 41 ] reported a nanostructured aluminium-oxide (NAO)-based photoluminescence platform that enhanced a photoluminescent signal up to 100 fold and promoted the photoluminescent-based immunosensing with high throughput. Protein A and fluorophore-labeled immunoglobulin G (IgG) were used to demonstrate that the IgG of programmable concentrations was confirmed with the photoluminescent images on the microfluidic device.…”