MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging materials as ideal biomarkers for noninvasive cancer detection in the early phase. In this article, a simple and label-free electrochemical miRNA biosensor was developed. A single-stranded DNA (ss-DNA) probes were successfully mapped to f-MWCNT and hybridized with the target miR-141 sequence. The optimum peak points of the obtained hybridization were determined using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV) methods. Significant peaks were observed in the results, depending on miR-141 at different concentrations. The linear relationship (ν) between redox peak currents (Ip) and scanning rate indicated that electron transfer (ET) between miR-141 and the electrode surface was accomplished successfully. In DPV measurements, miR-141 was measured with a low detection limit (LOD) in the 1.3–12 nM concentration range, and the LOD and limit of quantification (LOQ) results were found to be 3 and 9.1 pM, respectively. Besides, selectivity test was investigated for the biosensor using different target analytes and a significant difference in value was observed between the peak currents of miR-141, and other target molecules. This developed strategy has been found to detect miR-141 sensitively, selectively and without tags, and its integration into mobile devices has been successfully carried out.

How to effectively deal with the polluted water by the pollutant of organic dyes is the world problem. It is of great significance if the organic dyes in the polluted water can be directly turned into the useful materials through a facile approach. Herein, the water which contains the common organic dye, Reactive red 2 (RR2), has been chosen to be the model to synthesize graphene quantum dots (GQDs) by a facile route. The comprehensive characterizations, including TEM (HRTEM), XPS, Raman, PL and UV–Vis. spectra, have been performed to confirm the structures and explore the properties of the synthesized GQDs. Meanwhile, the excellent PL properties and low biotoxicity of the GQDs confer them with the potential applications in the biological fields. When the GQDs are excited by the wavelength of 360 nm, the maximum emission is achieved at 428 nm. It is well demonstrated that the synthesized GQDs are able to detect the Al3+ which causes multiple diseases, such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, kidney disease, and even cancer. The detection range is from 90 to 800 μM, which is different from the reported kinds of the literature. Therefore, this work not only provides an economical and environmental route on solving the universal problem from organic dyes, but also facilitates to advancing the synthesis and application of GQDs.

We fabricated glucose oxidase (GOx)-modified biosensor for detection of glucose by physical immobilization of GOx after electrochemical polymerization of the conductive mixture monomers of the 3-thiophenecarboxylic acid (TCA) and thiophene (Th) onto ITO electrode in this study. We confirmed the successfully fabrication of GOx-modified biosensor via FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM, contact angle, and cyclic voltammetry. The fabricated biosensor has the detection limit of 0.1 μM, the linearity of 0.001-27 mM, and sensitivity of 38.75 mAM-1cm-2, respectively. The fabricated biosensor exhibits high interference effects to dopamine, ascorbic acid, and L-cysteine, respectively. From these results, the fabricated GOx-modified biosensor with long linearity and high sensitivity could be used as glucose sensor in human blood sample.

In vivo nicotine is associated with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and lung cancer. Diagnostic assays of these diseases depend on very low analytical detection limits. In this study, a sensitive analytical method was examined using a voltammetric graphite pencil electrode (GPE) and a modified carbon nanotube paste electrode (CNE). The optimum analytical conditions for both electrodes were compared using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SW) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) obtaining 400 sec accumulation time and oxidation peak. Under optimum parameters, the stripping working range of GPE was 5.0-40.0μg/L, CNE: 0.1-0.8 and 5-50μg/L. Quantification limits were 5.0μg/L for GPE and 0.1μg/L for CNE, while detection limits were 0.6μg/L for GPE and 0.07μg/L for CNE. A standard deviation of 10.0μg/L was observed for 0.064 GPE and 0.095 CNE (n = 12) using 400 sec accumulation time. The results obtained can be applied to non.treated urine and ex vivo biological diagnostics.

Measurement of estrogen concentration in bio-samples are very important for differential diagnosis of various disease or evaluation of health status. However, it is difficult to collect immediate data of estrogen concentration because they are measured by radioimmunoassay or chromatography which need time- and cost-consuming sample pre-treatment. This study was performed for development of new estrogen biosensor employing taste principles, and for evaluation of cross reactivity between various steroid hormones. Gene sequence of ligand binding domain of α-human estrogen receptor (amino acid 302-553; hER-LBD) was cloned from human breast cancer cell line. The proteins of hER-LBD were produced by T7-E.coli expression system, and isolated by chromatography. hER-LBD were coated on the gold plated quartz crystal (AT-cut 9MHz), and resonance frequencies were measured by universal frequency counter. Estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and aldosterone were used for cross reactivity of the hER-LBD. We also monitored influences of pH change in resonance frequency. The resonance frequencies of hER-LBD coated quartz crystal were decreased during increase of estrogen concentration from 15 μg/mL to 50 μg/mL. However, similar steroid hormones, progesterone and aldosterone, did not elicit the change in resonance frequency. Testosterone evoke weak change in resonance frequency. The new estrogen biosensor was more sensitive in pH 7.2 than in pH 7.6. These results suggest that hER-LBD coated quartz crystal biosensor is a probable estrogen biosensor.

Two-types of ionically modified multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNTs) based sensors were developed by radiationinduced graft polymerization using vinyl monomers such as 3-(butyl imidazol)-2-(hydroxyl)propyl methyl methacrylate and 1-[(4-ethenylphenyl)methyl]-3-buthyl-imidazolium chloride with ionic properties, in aqueous solution at room temperature. Subsequently, the tyrosinase-immobilized biosensor was fabricated by a hand-casting of the ionic property-modified MWNTs, tyrosinase, and chitosan solution as a binder onto ITO glass surface. The sensing ranges of the tyrosinase-biosensor for phenol in phosphate buffer solution was in the range of 0.005~0.2 mM. The total phenolic compounds mainly such as caffeine of the tyrosinase-immobilized biosensor for commercial coffee were also determined.

폴리플루오렌(polyfluorene) 기반의 양이온성 공액 고분자를 형광 공명 에너지 전달(fluorescenceresonanceenergytransfer;FRET) 에너지 주게로, fluorescein(Fl)이 레이블 된 단일 가닥 DNA(ssDNA-Fl)를 에너지 받게 물질로 이용하여 DNA 검출 시스템의 감도 향상을 위한 연구를 수행하였다. FRET 속도는 에너지 주게-받게 간 거리에 매우 민감하여 주게-받게 간의 거리가 감소함에 따라 FRET의 효율은 증가하나, 이와 동시에 광 유발 전자 전달 (photo-inducedchargetransfer;PCT)이 경쟁적으로 일어난다. 이러한 PCT 과정은 FRET과 경쟁관계에 놓여있으며, FRET에 의해 유도된 센서 신호의 실질적인 세기를 감소시킨다. PCT 형광억제 현상 역시 거리에 매우 민감하여 주게-받게 간 거리가 증가함에 따라 지수함수적으로 감소한다. 따라서 에너지 주게 및 받게 사이의 거리를 조절하고 FRET과 PCT 간의 경쟁을 제어하기 위해 Layer-by-Layer(LbL) 기술을 도입하였다. 정전기적 인력에 따른 전해질의 흡착을 이용하여 전해질 다층 박막을 제작하고 전해질 층수를 달리함으로써, FRET 주게인 양 이온성 공액 고분자와 FRET 받게인 ssDNA-Fl 사이의 거리를 분자 수준에서 조절하였다. 이를 통해FRET에 의해 유도된 fluorescein의 형광 세기를 제어할 수 있음을확인하였다. LbL 기술을 이용한 분자 수준의 에너지 주게-받게 간 거리 제어를 통해 FRET과 PCT 사이의 경쟁을 제어함으로써 FRET을 기반으로 하는 고분자 바이온 센서의 DNA 검출 감도를 향상시킬 수 있으리라 예상된다.

The biosensor technology, which makes it possible to detect biomaterial such as protein, pathogen, and small molecules, is useful in such areas as diagnosis, bioprocessing, and food analysis or safety. For the development of a highly sensitive biosensor, immobilization techniques of organic/bio films on solid substrate, and detection methods of protein-protein reactions appearing in a few nanometers region from the sensor surface should be established. In this review, several immobilization techniques and detection methods are reviewed based on the articles reported recently.

An improved antibody-coated sensor system based on quartz crystal microbalance was developed for the detection of Salmonella spp. An antibody against Salmonella common structural antigen was immobilized onto one gold electrode of the piezoelectric quartz crystal surface by various immobilization procedures. The best results in sensitivity and stability were obtained with the thin layers of protein A and 3,3'-dithiopropionimidate 2HCl (DTBP), a homobifunctional thiol-cleavable crosslinker. After the addition of a S. typhimurium suspension into a reaction cell with 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, the resonant frequency owing to S. typhimurium adsorption decreased conspicuously. The antibody-immobilized crystals prepared by the gold-protein A complex formation and DTBP thiolation showed the frequency shifts of 80 and 283 Hz, respectively. The time required for maximum frequency shift was about 30-60 min. The antibody-coated crystal could be reused for 6-8 consecutive assays.

Sensing performances of evanescent field absorption (EFA) hetero-core fiber sensor has been presented based on EFA by changing the length and the core diameter of the single mode fiber. Experimental results have demonstrated a good feature in their relationship between the length and the core diameter of the single mode fiber. The sensor consists of 2 fiber optics which have the same cladding diameter of 125μm However one fiber optic used is single mode and has varying core diameter ranging from 3.3 to 5.6μm. The other fiber is multimode type and has a thicker fixed core diameter of 62.5μm. The 2 fiber optics are thermally spliced together. Experiments conducted to measure the resonance wavelength were carried out over a range of refractive index, to find the optimum sensing length Experiments show that core diameter of the single mode fiber and sensing length offects the linearity and sensitivity.