Compact and low-cost biosensor based on novel approach to spectroscopy of surface plasmons

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2008.11.003

Biosensors and Bioelectronics

Volume 24, Issue 12, 15 August 2009, Pages 3430-3435

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2008.11.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

A high-performance surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor based on a novel approach to spectroscopy of surface plasmons is reported. This approach employs a special diffraction grating structure (referred to as surface plasmon resonance coupler and disperser, SPRCD) which simultaneously couples light into a surface plasmon and disperses the diffracted light for spectral readout of SPR signal. The developed SPRCD sensor consists of a miniature cartridge integrating the diffraction grating and microfluidics and a compact optical system which simultaneously acquires data from four independent sensing channels in the cartridge. It is demonstrated that the SPRCD sensor is able to measure bulk refractive index changes as small as 3 × 10⁻⁷ RIU (refractive index units) and to detect short oligonucleotides in concentrations down to 200 pM.

Introduction

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors represent one of the fastest developing label-free biosensor technologies with applications in biology, food safety, medical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring (Homola, 2008). However, high-resolution multichannel SPR sensors which are required for the most demanding biosensing applications are yet confined to laboratories primarily due to their large size, weight, power consumption, complexity and costs (Navratilova et al., 2007). In recent years several attempts have been made to develop portable SPR sensors (Soelberg et al., 2005, Chinowsky et al., 2007a, Kim et al., 2007, Chinowsky et al., 2007b, Feltis et al., 2008). The portable SPR sensors have been demonstrated for applications such as detection of pesticides in drinking water (Mauriz et al., 2006, Mauriz et al., 2007), detection of environmental toxic and endocrine disrupting compounds such as benzo[a]pyrene, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid or atrazine (Dostálek et al., 2007, Farre et al., 2007, Kim et al., 2007) and detection of bacteria, spores and toxins (Chinowsky et al., 2007b). However, while high-performance laboratory SPR systems typically measure refractive index changes down to (1–3) × 10⁻⁷ (Homola, 2008), resolution of portable SPR sensors is typically significantly worse. With the exception of suitcase-size imaging SPR sensor reported by Chinowsky et al. (2007a) which delivers resolution of 5 × 10⁻⁷ RIU when averaging over large areas of a detector, compact SPR sensors provide refractive index resolution worse than 2 × 10⁻⁶ RIU (Chinowsky et al., 2007b, Kawazumi et al., 2005, Kim et al., 2007) which substantially limits their potential applications.

In this paper we present an SPR sensor based on a novel method of spectroscopy of surface plasmons which employs a special diffraction grating structure (referred to as surface plasmon resonance coupler and disperser, SPRCD) which simultaneously couples light into a surface plasmon and disperses the diffracted light for spectral readout. This approach allows construction of high-performance yet compact SPR sensors suitable for field use. A prototype of the sensor is presented and its detection capabilities are characterized in terms of refractive index resolution and ability to detect short oligonucleotides.

Section snippets

Principle of operation

The principle of operation of the reported SPRCD sensor is based on recently demonstrated method of simultaneous excitation of surface plasmons and dispersion of diffracted light by means of a single diffraction grating – surface plasmon resonance coupler and disperser (Telezhnikova and Homola, 2006). In this approach polychromatic light wave illuminates a gold-coated diffraction grating under normal incidence through an adjacent dielectric medium (liquid sample). A portion of incident light is

Reagents

The 16-mercapto-hexadecaoic acid (HSC₁₅COOH) and streptavidin from Streptomycea Avidinii were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich, USA. The 11-mercapto-(diethylenglycol)undecanol HSC₁₁(EG)₂OH was purchased from Prochimia, Poland. The N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-O-(N-succinimidyl)uronium tetrafluoroborate (TSTU) (pure, ≥98%) was purchased from Sigma–Aldrich, USA. Absolute ethanol was purchased from MERCK, Czech Republic. The anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) (≥99.8%) was from Sigma–Aldrich, USA. The

Refractometry

The temporal sensor responses recorded from four parallel sensing channels are shown in Fig. 5. The change of the refractive index of sample in the flow-cell resulted in a rapid shift of the resonant wavelength (the sensor response). The channel-to-channel reproducibility of sensor responses to the same change in refractive index was better than 5% which determines the consistency of SPR measurements in different channels with respect to the magnitude of the detected refractive index change.

Conclusions

We demonstrated a new SPR biosensor based on novel approach to the spectroscopy of surface plasmons using a special diffraction grating. This approach allows simultaneous excitation of surface plasmons and dispersion of the diffracted light over a position-sensitive detector by a single diffraction grating (SPRCD). The SPRCD optics was designed and optimized in terms of performance and size of the optical bench. A laboratory prototype of the SPRCD sensor was built and evaluated in model

Acknowledgement

This research was kindly supported by Phenogenomics Inc. (USA).

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^☆: This article is a part of the special issue “Biosensors 2008”.

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Compact and low-cost biosensor based on novel approach to spectroscopy of surface plasmons☆

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Principle of operation

Reagents

Refractometry

Conclusions

Acknowledgement

Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Microelectronic Engineering

Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section (a): Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Biosensors & Bioelectronics