title: Tuneable surface shear forces to physically displace nonspecific molecules in protein biomarker detection.
abstract: We report a simple method to remove nonspecifically adsorbed species from sensor surface and also improve the detection sensitivity of the sensor using tuneable alternating current (ac) electrohydrodynamics (ac-EHD) forces. These forces generated within few nanometers of an electrode surface (i.e., double layer) engender fluid flow within a serpentine channel containing a long array of the asymmetric electrode pairs, and can easily be tuned externally by changing the frequency and amplitude of the ac-EHD field. Under the optimized experimental conditions, we achieved a 3.5-fold reduction in nonspecific adsorption of non-target proteins with a 1000-fold enhancement in detection sensitivity of the device for the analysis of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein spiked in serum. This approach can be applicable in diverse fields including biosensors, cellular and molecular separation systems and biomedical applications to remove/reduce nonspecific adsorption of molecular and cellular species.
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), Corner College and Cooper Roads (Bldg 75), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Ramanathan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vaidyanathan
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), Corner College and Cooper Roads (Bldg 75), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Sakandar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rauf
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), Corner College and Cooper Roads (Bldg 75), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. Electronic address: m.shiddiky@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Muhammad J A
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Shiddiky
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), Corner College and Cooper Roads (Bldg 75), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. Electronic address: m.trau@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trau
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
keywords: Electrohydrodynamics; Microfluidic devices; Nonspecific adsorption; Protein detection; Surface shear forces