Portable nanoporous electrical biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of Troponin-T

Aim: To demonstrate the design, fabrication and testing of a portable, label-free biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of the cardiac Troponin-T (cTnT) from patient blood. Materials & methods: The biosensor is comprised of a nanoporous membrane integrated on to a microelectrode sensor platform for nanoconfinement effects. Charge perturbations due to antigen binding are recorded as impedance changes using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Results: The measured impedance change is used to quantitatively determine the cTnT concentration from the tested sample. We were successful in detecting and quantifying cardiac Troponin-T from a 40-patient cohort. The limit of detection was 0.01 pg/ml. Conclusion: This novel technology has promising preliminary results for rapid and sensitive detection of cTnT. Quantification of biomarkers is essential for disease diagnosis and management. Current laboratory-based analytical methods are labor-intensive and rely mostly on use of labels for detection. A simple, point-of-care method based on a label-free technique offers robust real-time measurements for detection of biomarkers. This study intended to develop a nanoporous electrical biosensor to measure the cardiac biomarker cardiac Troponin-T. A nanotechnology approach towards sensor design improves detection sensitivity. The sensor performance for detection of cardiac Troponin-T demonstrates the potential for adoption in a clinical setting. However, further validation experiments are required prior to implementation.