A Rapid Graphene Sensor Platform for the Detection of Viral Proteins in Low Volume Samples

Abstract

Infectious disease outbreaks remain an ever-prevalent global issue, with increasing global travel and trade increasing the risk of rapid disease spread to pandemic levels. [1] This is exemplified by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic from 2019. One specific issue that has been highlighted by the pandemic is the need for methods to achieve rapid, accurate diagnostics for infectious diseases, not just for coronaviruses, but for other major diseases as well. Rapid diagnostics and onsite testing will therefore play a critical role in facilitating early intervention and treatment [2] of diseases. Large-scale testing and rapid onsite diagnostic decisions are crucial for surveillance monitoring of disease outbreaks and infection spread. In future, this data will enable swift decision-making and management to help prevent the spread of epidemic and pandemic infectious disease outbreaks. [1,3,4] In this work, we use the chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a model infectious disease to demonstrate a viral detection platform sensor. HCV is still endemic in populations around the world and is a major cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, affecting around 71 million people worldwide. [5] HCV deaths exceed annual deaths due to HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. [6] Consequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) aims to eliminate HCV by 2030, [7,8] with a strategy to target an increase in HCV

Recent advances in graphene-based electroanalytical devices for healthcare applications

“…224 Walters et al reported an Au Please do not adjust margins Please do not adjust margins nanoparticle functionalized graphene resistor sensor to detect the Hepatitis C virus core antigen (HCVcAg) in real-time. 225 The sensor demonstrates good sensitivity to the HCVcAg higher than 100 pg mL -1 . In another work, LIG was functionalized with pyrenebutyric acid (PBA) as a linker to immobilization of the antibodies to specifically detect biomarkers including SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (NP), immunoglobulins (Igs) against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and C-reactive protein.…”

Graphene Properties, Synthesis and Applications: A Review

“… 157 In this study, an rGO-based field-effect transistor (2DBioFET) was biofunctionalized with molecules that selectively bind to a malaria biomarker, i.e., Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (PfLDH), with a detection limit down to 0.11 pg/mL. Similarly, Walters et al developed a graphene sensor platform for rapidly diagnosing the hepatitis virus, 158 and reported a detection limit down to 100 pg/mL in less than 4 min, even with smaller volume samples, i.e., 5 μL. The sensor is easily adaptable to other infectious disease markers, such as hepatitis B virus, SARS-CoV-2, HIV, and many others.…”