Fast detection of a protozoan pathogen, Perkinsus marinus, using AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

Abstract

Antibody-functionalized, Au-gated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were used to detect Perkinsus marinus. The antibody was anchored to the gate area through immobilized thioglycolic acid. The AlGaN/GaN HEMT drain-source current showed a rapid response of less than 5 s when the infected solution was added to the antibody-immobilized surface. The sensor can be recycled with a phosphate buffered saline wash. These results clearly demonstrate the promise of field-deployable electronic biological sensors based on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs for Perkinsus marinus detection.

Recent advances in wide bandgap semiconductor biological and gas sensors

“…Resonant frequency changes of an anti-PSA antibody coated micro-cantilever enable a detection sensitivity of $10 pg/ml but this micro-balance approach has issues with the effect of the solution on resonant frequency and cantilever damping [185,186]. Antibody-functionalized nanowire FETs coated with antibody provide for low detection levels of PSA [188,189], but the scale-up potential is limited by the expensive e-beam lithography requirements.…”

“…A number of different electrical measurements have been used for rapid detection of PSA [184][185][186][187][188][189]. For example, electrochemical measurements based on impedance and capacitances are simple and inexpensive but need improved sensitivities for use with clinical samples [184,185].…”

Long-term stability study of botulinum toxin detection with AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor based sensors

“…Recently, Chennamsetty et al used a full antibody atomistic molecular dynamics simulation to prove that aggregation leads to a decrease in antibody activity, and they identified the location and size of these aggregation prone regions [6]. However, to date, there are only few reports on the stability of antibody-based immunosensors [3][4][5]7].AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) based sensors have been demonstrated for gas, chemical, and bio-sensing applications [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. GaN based materials are chemically stable, biocompatible, and stable in high temperature and reliable detections of biological agents in real time have been proved by using AlGaN/GaN HEMT based biosensors [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

(The Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology Award) Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Electronics, Photonics, and Sensing Applications

“…Both Hg and Cu ions can be detected using appropriate functionalization and these sensors are also re-uable after washing (13,14) . Finally, Shellfish diseases (Perkinsus species infections cause widespread mortality in both natural and farmed oysters) and Vitellogenin, an endocrine disrupter biomarker, in fish, have been detected at low concentrations (15)(16)(17)(18) . Table 1 shows a summary of the sensors we have made using HEMTs as the platform.…”