Nanomaterial‐Based Amplified Transduction of Biomolecular Interactions

Abstract

This article reviews progress in the development of nanomaterials for amplified biosensing and discusses different nanomaterial-based bioamplification strategies. Signal amplification has attracted considerable attention for ultrasensitive detection of disease markers and biothreat agents. The emergence of nanotechnology is opening new horizons for highly sensitive bioaffinity and biocatalytic assays and for novel biosensor protocols that employ electronic, optical, or microgravimetric signal transduction. Nucleic acids and antibodies functionalized with metal or semiconductor nanoparticles have been employed as amplifying tags for the detection of DNA and proteins. The coupling of different nanomaterial-based amplification platforms and amplification processes dramatically enhances the intensity of the analytical signal and leads to ultrasensitive bioassays. The successful realization of the new nanoparticle-based signal amplification strategies requires proper attention to nonspecific adsorption issues. The implications of such nanoscale materials on amplified biodetection protocols and on the development of modern biosensors are discussed.

Carbon Nanotubes for Electronic and Electrochemical Detection of Biomolecules

“…[109] Carbon nanotubes have also been used for sensitive bioelectrochemical detection of DNA hybridization. [37,117,131] Examples include Wang's demonstration of zeptomolar detection of DNA obtained by covalently linking thousands of copies of enzyme labels to CNTconjugated magnetic beads (Fig. 3b 11 ).…”

Bioelectronics

“…developed due to the tremendous recent success in nanotechnology have paved the way for the novel possibilities of coupling biomaterials and electronic transducers [18,19]. At this point, the great importance of cooperative efforts in bioelectronics and nanotechnology, resulting in the formulation of the novel scientific direction named "bionanotechnology" should be emphasized [20,21].…”

Dual Nanoparticle Amplified Surface Plasmon Resonance Detection of Thrombin at Subattomolar Concentrations

“…[1][2][3][4][5] When combined with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) chipbased techniques as part of a sandwich assay format, detection limits ranging from the low picomolar to attomolar (aM) have been reported. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In comparison, a typical SPR detection limit based on the specific adsorption of a target protein onto a planar gold film with no further signal amplification is ~1-10 nM.…”