Multifrequency Investigation of Single- and Double-Stranded DNA with Scalable Metamaterial-Based THz Biosensors

Abstract

Due to the occurrence of THz-excited vibrational modes in biomacromolecules, the THz frequency range has been identified as particularly suitable for developing and applying new bioanalytical methods. We present a scalable THz metamaterial-based biosensor being utilized for the multifrequency investigation of single- and double-stranded DNA (ssDNA and dsDNA) samples. It is demonstrated that the metamaterial resonance frequency shift by the DNA’s presence depends on frequency. Our experiments with the scalable THz biosensors demonstrate a major change in the degree of the power function for dsDNA by 1.53 ± 0.06 and, in comparison, 0.34 ± 0.11 for ssDNA as a function of metamaterial resonance frequency. Thus, there is a significant advantage for dsDNA detection that can be used for increased sensitivity of biomolecular detection at higher frequencies. This work represents a first step for application-specific biosensors with potential advantages in sensitivity, specificity, and robustness.

High specificity THz metamaterial-based biosensor for label-free transcription factor detection in melanoma diagnostics

“…In future research we plan to investigate the precise behavior of this and other transcription factors in the presence of their corresponding capture DNA in more detail. Moreover, an extremely important and challenging step for THz biosensing is to perform experiments in aqueous solutions in order to maintain the tertiary and if applicable quaternary structure of protein analytes during the measurement 35,40 .…”

“…All measurement results were obtained using one FSS-based sensing platform with a design resonance frequency f R of 600 GHz. High frequency simulations as well as fabrication details for this sensor design have already been shown earlier in a DNA analysis publication 35 . A single element of the metamaterial array is shown in Fig.…”

Terahertz modulation characteristics of three nanosols under external field control based on microfluidic chip

“…for measurements in H 2 O, allowing highly sensitive detection of biomolecules in strongly absorbing liquids (Weisenstein et al, 2022). The three nanosols employed in this study are H 2 O-based dispersion systems, and hydrogen bonding in H 2 O will affect the study of the THz modulation properties of NPs.…”

Numerical Investigation of GaN HEMT Terahertz Detection Model Considering Multiple Scattering Mechanisms

“…Terahertz (THz) detection technology has attracted a lot of attention for its applications in the areas of noninvasive imaging [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], biomolecular detection [ 4 , 5 , 6 ], material composition detection [ 7 , 8 ], etc. Among various types of THz detectors, GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) THz detectors have been widely studied [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ] in the past few decades due to their advantages of high sensitivity, fast response time, and micro–nano size.…”