Electric field and vibration-assisted nanomolecule desorption and anti-biofouling for biosensor applications

Biofouling: lessons from nature

“…Immediately after surgery, the permanent implant is flooded with blood followed by adsorption of proteins onto the surface [2,59]. Such adsorption on a biosensor may lead to sensor 'blindness' [44], reduced lifespan and increased power consumption. Furthermore, biofouling causes problems with sensor stability and calibration [60].…”

“…It can prevent biohazards in applications ranging from the Earth to the International Space Station. The sensor operates by implementing ultra-sensitive carbon nanotubes, Yeh et al [44] surface charge positive/negative charges deter settlement Greer et al [165] responsive surface changes in wettability (owing to light, temperature, electric field, solvents) inhibit settlement…”

An investigation of vibration-induced protein desorption mechanism using a micromachined membrane and PZT plate

“…The following protein solutions were used: BSA (2 mg/ml), IgG (0.1 mg/ml) and human plasma (0.3 mg/ml protein concentration) in PBS. The concentrations of BSA and IgG were chosen from our previous publication (Yeh et al 2007). The plasma concentration was 3 mg/ml after the fluorescence dyeing procedure, and was diluted ten times to obtain sufficient solution volume (1 ml).…”

“…Previously, using a conventional macro-scale piezoelectric plate, our research group showed that the combined effect of acoustic flow initiated from mechanical vibration and surface electrostatic repelling can attenuate adsorption of BSA and IgG (Yeh et al 2007). In the current research, we demonstrate the attenuation of adsorption of single proteins (BSA and IgG) and proteins from blood plasma by the vibration of a micromachined membrane by a miniature PZT plate.…”

“…Examples include polymer-based coatings (Gref et al 2000;Huang et al 2001;Nolan et al 2005;Nuzzo 2003; Prime and Whitesides 1993;Allen et al 2002;Doherty et al 2003;Jacobs et al 1988;Makamba et al 2003;Whelan and Regan 2006), surface functionalization using gas plasma (Sigal et al 1998), surface charges (Pasche et al 2005), detergent coating (Zhang and Ferrari 1997), nano-structured surfaces (Ainslie et al 2005;Rigby et al 1995;Rigby et al 1996), and mechanical vibration (Ainslie et al 2005;Meyer et al 2006;Rahmoune and Latour 1995;Yeh et al 2007). Among these methods, passive methods (without surface treatment) are more attractive for certain applications (long-circulating sterically protected liposome, Klibanov et al 2003;biosensor, Sharma et al 2004;protein chip, Zhu and Snyder 2003).…”