Junhyoung Ahn

Highly Sensitive Biosensing Using Arrays of Plasmonic Au Nanodisks Realized by Nanoimprint Lithography

We describe the fabrication of elliptical Au nanodisk arrays as a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing substrate for clinical immunoassay via thermal nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and enhancement in the sensitivity of the detection of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) using the precipitation of 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate p-toluidine/nitro blue tetrazolium (BCIP/NBT), catalyzed by alkaline phosphatase. Au nanodisks were fabricated on glass through an unconventional tilted evaporation, which could preserve the thickness of imprinted resists and create an undercut beneficial to the subsequent lift-off process without any damage to pattern dimension and the glass while removing the residual polymers. To investigate the optically anisotropic property of the LSPR sensors, a probe light with linear polarization parallel to and perpendicular to the long axis of the elliptical nanodisk array was utilized, and their sensitivity to the bulk refractive index (RI) was measured as 327 and 167 nm/RIU, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first application of enzyme-substrate reaction to sandwich immunoassay-based LSPR biosensors that previously suffered from a low sensitivity due to the short penetration depth of the plasmon field, especially when large-sized antibodies were used as bioreceptors. As a result, a large change in local refractive index because of the precipitation on the Au nanodisks amplified the wavelength shift of the LSPR peak in the vis-NIR spectrum, resulting in femtomolar detection limits, which was ∼10(5)-fold lower than the label-free detection without the enzyme precipitation. This method can be extended easily to the other clinical diagnostics with a high sensitivity.

High sensitivity detection of 16s rRNA using peptide nucleic acid probes and a surface plasmon resonance biosensor

A signal enhancing method allowing highly sensitive detection of E. coli 16s rRNA was developed using peptide nucleic acid (PNA) as a capture probe and a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor as a detector. 16s rRNA has been used as a genetic marker for identification of organisms, and can be analyzed directly without PCR amplification due to the relatively high number of copies. PNA has a neutral backbone structure, therefore hybridization with 16s rRNA results in the ionic condition being changed from neutral to negative. A cationic Au nanoparticle was synthesized and used for signal amplification by ionic interaction with 16s rRNA hybridized on the PNA probe-immobilized SPR sensor chip. This method resulted in a detection limit of E. coli rRNA of 58.2+/-1.37 pg mL(-1). Using this analytical method, Staphylococcus aureus was detected without purification of rRNA.

Electrical signaling of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays with an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor.

Optical laboratory-based immunoassays, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) give a high sensitivity and specificity of various fatal diseases. However, these assays are no longer efficient in on-spot diagnostics of wide-spreading and contagious infections. At this point in time, portable and handhold devices play a pivotal role in infectious diseases with quick diagnostics at or near the site of the disease propagation. In this paper, we demonstrated a novel electrical immunoassay of ELISA that was not based on optical signaling but on electrical signaling. This was done by combining an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) with ELISA. By harnessing the catalytic reaction of alkaline phosphatase that precipitated silver particles, we effectively overcame the chronic Debye screening length issue of the ISFET. Ultimately, small signal ranging from 1 pg/mL to 10 ng/mL was immensely amplified with the ALP label, regardless of buffer conditions. The sensor platform herein surpassed a sensing capability of conventional ELISA that is considered to have a LOD on the order of ~1 ng/mL. The results were compared with those of horseradish peroxidase label, which is generally used for optical analyses in ELISA. Our newly developed ISFET-based portable sensor holds a large potential for point-of-care tools in a variety of diseases, without being limited by the need for expensive equipment such as spectrophotometers.

Signal Amplification by Enzymatic Reaction in an Immunosensor Based on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR)

An enzymatic reaction was employed as a means to enhance the sensitivity of an immunosensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The reaction occurs after intermolecular binding between an antigen and an antibody on gold nano-island (NI) surfaces. For LSPR sensing, the gold NI surface was fabricated on glass substrates using vacuum evaporation and heat treatment. The interferon-γ (IFN-γ) capture antibody was immobilized on the gold NIs, followed by binding of IFN-γ to the antibody. Subsequently, a biotinylated antibody and a horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated with avidin were simultaneously introduced. A solution of 4-chloro-1-naphthol (4-CN) was then used for precipitation; precipitation was the result of the enzymatic reaction catalyzed the HRP on gold NIs. The LSPR spectra were obtained after each binding process. Using this method, the enzyme-catalyzed precipitation reaction on the gold NI surface was found to effectively amplify the change in the signal of the LSPR immunosensor after intermolecular binding.

Graphene-oxide-based immunosensing through fluorescence quenching by peroxidase-catalyzed polymerization.

A graphene oxide (GO)-based immunosensor is developed for the detection of interleukin-5 (IL-5), a key cytokine associated with asthma pathology and eosinophilia. The immunosensing platform utilizes the innate fluorescence of GO, not demanding biomolecules labeled with fluorescent dyes. The GO-based immunoassay exhibits high specificity for IL-5 among other cytokines and is not affected by nonspecific proteins in human serum.

Directed immobilization of DNA-binding proteins on a cognate DNA-modified chip surface.

Here we describe a useful method for the site-directed immobilization of proteins with a DNA-binding domain (DNA-BD) on the cognate DNA-coated gold surface for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging analyses. In order to assess the performance of this procedure, we utilized two DNA-BDs, yeast GAL4 DNA-BD, and bacterial LexA DNA-BD. After the immobilization of the cognate double-stranded DNAs (dsDNAs) to a gold chip surface with a monolayer of poly(l-lysine) for sequence-specific DNA-protein interaction, purified recombinant GAL4 DNA-BD:EGFP and LexA DNA-BD:RFP fusion proteins were applied to a dsDNA-spotted gold chip, and were subsequently analyzed using an SPR imaging system. Consequently, the recombinant DNA-binding proteins, GAL4 DNA-BD:EGFP and LexA DNA-BD:RFP, were shown to bind selectively to their cognate DNA sequences on the gold chip. Collectively, our results revealed that sequence-specific dsDNA microarray approach could prove useful in performing the site-directed immobilization of DNA-binding proteins onto a gold thin film in a parallel format, and thereby potentially allowing for the analysis of transcription factor binding profiling as well as for the monitoring of protein-protein interactions between target proteins with DNA-binding domain as a fusion tag and their binding partners.

SPR Imaging-Based Monitoring of Caspase-3 Activation

The activation of caspase-3 plays an important role in the apoptotic process. In this study, we describe a novel method by which caspase-3-dependent proteolytic cleavage can be monitored, using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging protein chip system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report regarding the SPR imaging-based monitoring of caspase-3 activation. In order to evaluate the performance of this protocol, we constructed a chimeric caspase-3 substrate (GST:DEVD:EGFP) comprised of glutathione S transferase (GST) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) with a specialized linker peptide harboring the caspase-3 cleavage sequence, DEVD. Using this reporter, we assessed the cleavage of the artificial caspase-3 substrate in response to caspase-3 using an SPR imaging sensor. The purified GST:DEVD:EGFP protein was initially immobilized onto a glutathionylated gold chip surface, and subsequently analyzed using an SPR imaging system. As a result, caspase-3 activation predicated on the proteolytic properties inherent to substrate specificity could be monitored via an SPR imaging system with a detection performance similar to that achievable by the conventional method, including fluorometric assays. Collectively, our data showed that SPR imaging protein chip system can be effectively utilized to monitor the proteolytic cleavage in caspase-3, thereby potentially enabling the detection of other intracellular protease activation via the alteration of the protease recognition site in the linker peptides.

Electrical Immunosensor Based on a Submicron-gap Interdigitated Electrode and Gold Enhancement

We demonstrated that the detection of human interleukin 5 (IL5) with a higher sensitivity than the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was possible using mass-producible submicron-gap interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) combined with signal amplification by a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) and gold enhancement. IDEs, facing comb-shape electrodes, can act as simple and miniaturized devices for immunoassay. An IDE with a gap size of 400nm was fabricated by a stepper photolithography process and was applied for the immunoassay of human IL5. A biotinylated anti-human IL5 was immobilized on the streptavidin-modified IDE, and biotin-bovine serum albumin (BSA) and BSA were added sequentially to reduce non-specific binding between the streptavidin-immobilized IDE surface and other proteins. The immunoassay procedure included three main steps: the reaction of human IL5 to form antigen-antibody complexes, the binding of AuNP conjugation with an antibody against human IL5 for the sandwich immunoassay, and gold enhancement for electrical signal amplification. The measurement of electrical current at each step showed that the gold enhancement step was very critical in detection of the concentration of human IL5. Analysis by scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed that close to 1μm particles were formed from 10nm AuNP by the gold enhancement reaction using gold ions and hydroxylamine. Under optimized conditions, human IL5 could be analyzed at 1pgmL(-1) with a wide dynamic range (from 10(-3) to 100ngmL(-1) concentrations).

Screening of a specific monoclonal antibody against and detection ofListeria monocytogenes whole cells using a surface plasmon resonance biosensor

In this study, a specific monoclonal antibody againstListeria monocytogenes was screened using an SPR biosensor Monoclonal antibodies were bound to protein L, after which theL. monocytogenes cells were subjected to an affinity assay. Protein L was immobilized on a carboxymethyl dextran (CM-Dex) surface via an amine coupling method and utilized repeatedly by regeneration. The monoclonal antibody, ‘A18’, was selected and employed for the high-sensitivity detection ofL. monocytogenes. Under optimized conditions, 103 cells/ml or 50 cells were detected by the SPR biosensor.

Human alpha-fetal protein immunoassay using fluorescence suppression with fluorescent-bead/antibody conjugate and enzymatic reaction.

The aim of the study was to develop a simple and rapid immunoassay using fluorescent microbeads and enzyme-substrate reactions to measure alpha-fetal protein (AFP) concentrations. We demonstrated the functionality of the fluorescent immunosensor using antibody-conjugated fluorescent latex beads (AB-FLBs) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to catalyze a reaction, where the products would precipitate and suppress the fluorescence of AB-FLBs. First, the AB-FLBs were incubated with antigen, biotinylated antibodies (bABs), and streptavidin-HRP (SAv-HRP) to form a sandwich-type immunoreaction. The mixture was then filtered through a membrane to concentrate the beads on a small area. After washing to remove unbound bABs and SAv-HRP, a chromogenic HRP substrate and H2O2 were added to form precipitates on the FLB surface. The suppression of the fluorescence was measured with a fluorescent image analyzer system. Under optimized conditions, AFP could be measured at concentrations as low as 1 pg mL(-1) with a dynamic range up to 100 ng mL(-1).