News Release

A highly sensitive detection strategy for biomarkers with controllable dynamic range

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Science China Press

Illustration of the dual-regulation strategy for droplets’ precise control of motion behaviors and its sensing applications.

image: (A) Illustration of dual-regulation for controllable sliding behavior of RCA droplets (the scale bar was 250 μm). (B-D) RCA droplets with ATP concentration of 30 nM and 300 nM sliding in 0°, 45°, and 90° directions, respectively, displaying tunable detection sensitivity and adjustable dynamic ranges. (E-G) When the sliding direction changes from 0°, 45° to 90°, the dynamic range narrows down and the sensitivity (slope) increases, contributing to distinguishing of droplets with smaller change in target’s concentration. Numbers in red are the upper and lower limits of dynamic ranges. The a and the b present the concentrations of ATP: 30 nM and 300 nM, respectively. view more 

Credit: ©Science China Press

Recently, National Science Review published a paper online of Prof. Fan Xia (Faculty of Material Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan) and Prof. Yu Huang (Faculty of Material Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan). In this research, droplets’ motion behaviors on the surface were precisely controlled by adjusting the hydrophobic interaction between DNA droplets and lubricant-infused micro-grooves structural surface. Furthermore, based on this strategy, a highly sensitive biosensor system was developed with orthogonal dual-regulation of liquid phase and solid phase.

To realize the target of orthogonal dual-regulation of liquid phase and solid phase, Prof. Fan Xia and Prof. Yu Huang tuned the DNA’s average chain length of droplets with different concentrations of targets by rolling circle amplification (RCA) meanwhile varied droplet’s sliding direction on the lubricant-infused micro-grooves structural surface to adjust the energy barrier from micro-grooves. Based on this strategy, a highly sensitive biosensor system with adjustable dynamic ranges was developed. To testify the utility of this strategy, they employed it in the ultrasensitive detection of ATP, miRNA, Thrombin, and Kanamycin. Moreover, they also found this strategy could be extended to use in some cluster analysis of multi-targets. For example, the discrimination of 5 kinds of DNA including Lamda DNA, Linear DNA, Fish sperm DNA, M13, and PUC119.

Therefore, this orthogonal dual-regulation strategy demonstrated its ability of precise controlling of bio-droplets’ motion behaviors and sensitive detection with adjustable dynamic ranges for various bio-targets. The dual-regulation strategy will provide significant insights for superwettable biosensors, visual inspection, and beyond.

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See the article:

An Orthogonal Dual-Regulation Strategy for Sensitive Bio-sensing Applications

https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwac048


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