Porous silicon (PSi) biosensors offer significant potential for point-of-care diagnostics, yet their analytical performance is constrained by slow analyte diffusion into the porous matrix. To address this issue, we developed a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) device that combines a PSi immunosensor with a surface acoustic wave (SAW)-driven mixer, housed in a 3D-printed microfluidic flow cell. The platform was evaluated for the optical detection of lactoferrin (LF), a protein biomarker relevant to inflammatory bowel disease and chronic pancreatitis. Acoustic streaming generated by the SAW mixer enhanced convective mixing at the microscale and increased mass transfer of the target analyte towards the sensor surface. SAW-driven mixing achieved a 3-fold increase in the signal-to-noise ratio and a 5-fold reduction in the limit of detection compared to unmixed conditions, advancing the analytical range towards clinically significant concentrations.
The demand for a versatile and portable point-of-use (POU) sensor platform has surged due to the pandemic, especially in countries with limited medical laboratory facilities. We recently unveiled a portable, non-planar, interdigitated, flow-through, porous electrode platform that automatically measures electrochemical...
Anodized porous silicon films have been widely studied for biosensing applications, enabling label-free optical detection of numerous targets. Their appeal stems from the unique combination of tunable micro- and nanostructure with strong photonic properties, allowing precise control over pore size, layer thickness, and...
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors, owing to their high operating frequencies, compatibility with planar micro-fabrication, and exceptional sensitivity to surface perturbations, are widely used in lab -on-a-chip and biomedical diagnostic applications. However, conventional SAW sensors operating in liquid environments...
Bowei Wu, Ting Ma, Hanbang Deng et al.· 0 citations
This paper aims to address the critical transition of surface acoustic wave (SAW) microfluidics from microscale to nanoscale precision manipulation by deriving a systematic framework from a critical review of device performance data to analyze the inherent engineering constraints among resolution, throughput and bi...
Zhipeng Cao, Chuanjin Cui, Jingdong Bo et al.· Sensor Review· 0 citations
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide, placing increasing pressure on healthcare systems and highlighting the need for rapid, low-cost diagnostic solutions. Laser-driven microfabrication offers a powerful route to engineer electrochemical biosensing interfaces with tuneable morphology,...
A. Gordon, R. Blake, Damion K. Corrigan et al.· Journal of Physics D: Applie...· 0 citations
To meet the stringent requirements for miniaturized and highly sensitive trace gas sensing in space-constrained scenarios, including power equipment monitoring, minimally invasive biomedical diagnostics, and in situ lithium-battery analysis, we report a MEMS-integrated fiber-tip photoacoustic spectrometer (MFPAS). The...
A new machine-learning framework aims to improve the success rate of computational protein design while moving away from results that reproduce sequences found in nature.
