Wireless Point-of-Care Platform With Screen-Printed Sensors for Biomarkers Detection

Abstract

Abstract-Measurement systems for early and reliable detection of degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), are extremely important in clinical diagnosis. Among these, biochemical assays represent a commonly used method to distinguish patients from healthy population thanks to the sensitive recognition of specific biomarkers in biological fluids. In order to overcome actual limitations of these techniques in term of cost, standardization, and sensitivity, this study aimed to realize a low-cost highly sensitive portable point-of-care (PoC) testing system based on screen-printed electrochemical sensors. The development of the platform specifically included both the design of the sensing probe and the electronic circuit devoted to condition and acquires the transduced electric signal. The designed circuit was implemented in a printed circuit board and interfaced to a wireless system based on bluetooth data transmission in order to improve the portability of the proposed solution. Preliminary results were obtained by using controlled concentrations of electrolytic solutions and calibrating the sensors for antibodies and for a well-known protein (i.e., interleukin 8) quantified by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). Findings from ASV measurements showed a sensitivity of 38 µA/(ng/ml) with a tested range from 1.25 to 20 ng/ml, with a limit of detection of 2 ng/ml. Further investigation will include the validation of this PoC device by testing the concentration of a specific p53 protein isoform, which was recently identified to early correlate to AD development.

3-D Printed Instrumentation for Point-of-Use Leaky Waveguide Biochemical Sensor

“…Thus, the RI resolution of the two instruments was broadly comparable. The RI resolution of the LW obtained using the 3D printed instrument was comparable to the values reported in literature for 3D printed SPR instrument [30][31][32][33][34][35][36] (2.37×10 -6 RIU versus 1.7×10 −6 RIU). Based on the RI resolution of the LW obtained using the 3D printed instrument and typical (dn/dc) of 1.89×10 -4 L g −1 for proteins [40], we estimate the LOD for IgG (M w : 150,000 g) to be ~83 nM in the absence of antibodies to enhance the local concentration of protein in the waveguide.…”

Aerosol Jet Printed 3D Electrochemical Sensors for Protein Detection

“…The protocol adopted for testing sensors’ ability to quantify proteins involved IL-8 as reference protein for the assay. IL-8 quantification was characterized by a specific functionalization of the sensor using immunocomplexes formed by a capture and a detection antibody (DuoSet ELISA kit, Human CXCL8/IL-8, R&D System, Minneapolis, MN, USA), and by an Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV) based measurement technique, optimized in [ 32 , 33 ].…”

Printed Smart Devices on Cellulose-Based Materials by means of Aerosol-Jet Printing and Photonic Curing

“…Paper electronics is emerging owing to the possibility to realize circuits and electrical components avoiding conventional techniques [11][12][13][14] but presenting limitations in the realization of complex devices which can be produced only considering multilayer steps, thus lengthening the manufacturing process [1]. These limitations are usually related to the technologies employed in the realization of such devices, like screen-printing or inkjet printing, which allow only planar printings [11,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Another alternative can be the so-called 3D-origami technique, consists of a specific paper folding to develop a final electro-device [23,24].…”