PRADA: Portable Reusable Accurate Diagnostics with nanostar Antennas for multiplexed biomarker screening

Abstract

Precise monitoring of specific biomarkers in biological fluids with accurate biodiagnostic sensors is critical for early diagnosis of diseases and subsequent treatment planning. In this work, we demonstrated an innovative biodiagnostic sensor, portable reusable accurate diagnostics with nanostar antennas (PRADA), for multiplexed biomarker detection in small volumes (~50 μl) enabled in a microfluidic platform. Here, PRADA simultaneously detected two biomarkers of myocardial infarction, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), which is well accepted for cardiac disorders, and neuropeptide Y (NPY), which controls cardiac sympathetic drive. In PRADA immunoassay, magnetic beads captured the biomarkers in human serum samples, and gold nanostars (GNSs) "antennas" labeled with peptide biorecognition elements and Raman tags detected the biomarkers via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The peptide-conjugated GNS-SERS barcodes were leveraged to achieve high sensitivity, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.0055 ng/ml of cTnI, and a LOD of 0.12 ng/ml of NPY comparable with commercially available test kits. The innovation of PRADA was also in the regeneration and reuse of the same sensor chip for~14 cycles. We validated PRADA by testing cTnI in 11 de-identified cardiac patient samples of various demographics within a 95% confidence interval and high precision profile. We envision low-cost PRADA will have tremendous translational impact and be amenable to resourcelimited settings for accurate treatment planning in patients.

Probing metabolic alterations in breast cancer in response to molecular inhibitors with Raman spectroscopy and validated with mass spectrometry

“…RS is an established optical spectroscopy that measures inelastic scattering of photons induced by the vibrational bonds in samples. [19][20][21][22] RS is a low-cost, rapid, label-free, and stain-free technique and has been utilized in breast cancer for diagnosis and surgical guidance. [23][24][25] RS is also nondestructive allowing sample archival and retesting for accurate measure of therapeutic response.…”

Application of Microfluidics in Immunoassay: Recent Advancements

“…e LOD of the experiment was 0.40 pg/mL, 0.32 pg/mL, and 0.50 pg/mL, respectively [70]. In 2020, as shown in Figure 12(b), a novel magnetic microfluidic sensor with nanostar antennas was developed for the multiplexing detection of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in which the LOD of 0.0055 ng/ml and 0.12 ng/ml was yielded, respectively [72].…”

BioTM Buzz (Volume 5, Issue 3): The Future is Bright

“…She was also recognized as one of “40 Women Honorees in 40 Years” by her alma mater, Westminster College. In this Futures issue of Bioengineering & Translational Medicine , Dr. Bardhan shares her lab's development of a portable biodiagnostic sensor, capable of detecting biomarkers for myocardial infarction in low‐volume samples 2 …”