Ultra-fast detection of pathogens and protein biomarkers using a low-cost silicon plasmonic biosensing platform

Sensors and Actuators Reports, vol. 8, pp. 100221

Abstract

In this paper, we report, for the first time to our knowledge, a new versatile and future proof diagnostic platform for diverse applications and heterogeneous biological targets. This platform relies on a plasmonic-augmented silicon photonic biochip to detect bacteria and protein biomarkers within minutes. To demonstrate the potential of this platform in diverse applications, we demonstrate the detection of two heterogeneous targets, the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) and the molecule C-reactive protein (CRP) using a universal detection method. E. coli is one of the most commonly encountered bacterial pathogens involved in food monitoring, food born infections and water contamination applications, while CRP is a well-established disease severity indicator frequently used in common clinical practice. The biochip used is fully compatible with CMOS semiconductor manufacturing, while it hosts biosensors arrays for any combination of detection assays. Each biosensor exploits a 70 μm long aluminum plasmonic transducer within a silicon nitride waveguide-based Mach–Zehnder Interferometer. Each aluminum surface was silanized and biomodified with specific antibodies. Biosensing experiments revealed that CRP can be detected in diverse sample mediums, and E. coli detection was achieved in buffer at concentrations as low as 10 cells/ml within 13–25 min. The results are in good agreement with preceding numerical simulations. The modular nature of the reported biosensing platform makes it scalable and customizable, allowing nearly any combination of diagnostic tests targeting pathogens and proteins to be integrated on the same biochip for food quality monitoring, environmental monitoring, drug discovery and modern cell therapy manufacturing, or biomedical applications.

Authors 12

1. Athanasios Manolis corresponding
   Affiliation as printed

   Bialoom Ltd, 72, 28th Octovriou Avenue, Office 301, Engomi, 2414 Nicosia, Cyprus

2. Christia Eleftheriou
   Affiliation as printed

   Bialoom Ltd, 72, 28th Octovriou Avenue, Office 301, Engomi, 2414 Nicosia, Cyprus

3. Mahmoud A. Elrabiaey
   Affiliation as printed

   Bialoom Ltd, 72, 28th Octovriou Avenue, Office 301, Engomi, 2414 Nicosia, Cyprus

4. George Tsekenis
   Affiliation as printed

   Bialoom Ltd, 72, 28th Octovriou Avenue, Office 301, Engomi, 2414 Nicosia, Cyprus

5. Sabato D’Auria

   National Research Council

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biology, Agriculture and Food Science, CNR, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 7 - 00185 Rome, Italy

6. Antonio Varriale

   Institute of Food Science

   Affiliation as printed

   ISA-CNR, Institute of Food Science, Via Roma 64, 83100 Avellino, Italy

7. Alessandro Capo

   Institute of Food Science

   Affiliation as printed

   ISA-CNR, Institute of Food Science, Via Roma 64, 83100 Avellino, Italy

8. Maria Staiano

   Institute of Food Science

   Affiliation as printed

   ISA-CNR, Institute of Food Science, Via Roma 64, 83100 Avellino, Italy

9. Bartos Chmielak Aachen AMO GmbH Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen

   AMO (Germany)

   Affiliation as printed

   AMO GmbH, Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen (AMICA), Otto-Blumenthal-Strasse 25, 52074, Aachen, Germany

10. Anna Lena Schall-Giesecke Aachen AMO GmbH Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen

    AMO (Germany) · University of Duisburg-Essen · Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems

    Affiliation as printed

    AMO GmbH, Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen (AMICA), Otto-Blumenthal-Strasse 25, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Chair of Electronic Components and Circuits, University of Duisburg-Essen, and Fraunhofer IMS, Duisburg, Germany

11. Stephan Suckow Aachen AMO GmbH Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen

    AMO (Germany)

    Affiliation as printed

    AMO GmbH, Advanced Microelectronic Center Aachen (AMICA), Otto-Blumenthal-Strasse 25, 52074, Aachen, Germany

12. D. Tsiokos
    Affiliation as printed

    Bialoom Ltd, 72, 28th Octovriou Avenue, Office 301, Engomi, 2414 Nicosia, Cyprus