A novel biosensor based on piezoelectric ceramic resonator was developed for direct detection of cancer markers in the study. For the first time, a commercially available PZT ceramic resonator with high resonance frequency was utilized as transducer for a piezoelectric biosensor. A dual ceramic resonators scheme was designed wherein two ceramic resonators were connected in parallel: one resonator was used as the sensing unit and the other as the control unit. This arrangement minimizes environmental influences including temperature fluctuation, while achieving the required frequency stability for biosensing applications. The detection of the cancer markers Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) and α-Fetoprotein (AFP) was carried out through frequency change measurement. The device showed high sensitivity (0.25 ng/ml) and fast detection (within 30 min) with small samples (1 μl), which is compatible with the requirements of clinical measurements. The results also showed that the ceramic resonator-based piezoelectric biosensor platform could be utilized with different chemical interfaces, and had the potential to be further developed into biosensor arrays with different specificities for simultaneous detection of multiple analytes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.