Abstract
The incorporation of biomacromolecules onto silicon waveguiding microstructures constitutes a growing trend that pushes towards compact and miniaturized biosensing systems. This paper presents the integration of one-dimensional periodic nanostructures of proteins on the surface of micrometric silicon waveguides for transducing binding events between biomacromolecules. The study demonstrates this new bioanalytical principle by experimental results and theoretical calculations, and proves that rib waveguides (1-–1.6-µm width) together with protein gratings (495-–515-nm period) display suitable spectral responses for this optical biosensing system. Protein assemblies of bovine serum albumin are fabricated on the surface of silicon nitride waveguides, characterized by electron microscopy, and their response is measured by optical frequency domain reflectometry along the fabrication process and the subsequent stages of the biorecognition assays. Detection and quantification limits of 0.3 and 3.7 µg·mL−1, respectively, of specific antibodies are inferred from experimental dose–response curves. Among other interesting features, the results of this study point towards new miniaturized and integrated sensors for label-free bioanalysis.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona CNM-CSIC for the support in the fabrication of the measured chip samples on the multiproject CNM-VLC silicon nitride technology platform.
Funding
Funding was provided by grants PID2019-110713RB-I00, TED2021-132584B-C21, and PID2019-110877GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and co-funded by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2016-80385-P), Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2020/094, PROMETEO/2021/015, IDIFEDER/2021/046), and Universitat Politècnica de València (PAID-06–22).
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Juste-Dolz, A., Fernández, E., Micó, G. et al. Surface Bragg gratings of proteins patterned on integrated waveguides for (bio)chemical analysis. Microchim Acta 191, 63 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-06124-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-06124-z