Biosensors selectively detecting a very small amount of biomarker protein in human blood are desired for early and reliable diagnoses of severe diseases. This paper reports the detection of protein (streptavidin: SA) in ultra-low concentration, with an ultra-high selectivity against contaminants, using photonic crystal nanolasers. For biotin-modified nanolasers in pure water with SA, an extremely-low detection limit of 16 zM is evaluated. Even in a mixture with 1 μM bovine serum albumin as the contaminant, 100 zM SA is detected, meaning a selectivity of 10(13). These are remarkable capabilities that are promising for practical biosensing in the medical applications mentioned above.
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.