Nanomaterials for Biosensing
Subinoy Rana1 and Molly M. Stevens1,2
1Department of Materials, 2Department of Bioengineering, and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, London, U.K.
Abstract
Plasmonic nanomaterials have become a key tool for biosensing owing to their unique optoelectronic properties. One such property of gold nanoparticle is the change in tonality of colour based on their morphologies as well as the aggregation state. The change in colour produced by these nanosensors enables the naked eye detection of target molecules, leading to point-of-care diagnostic tools. We have introduced new strategies to detect disease biomarkers and biologically important small molecules in biofluids such as serum and saliva. Herein, small molecule mediated growth of nanoparticle was controlled by direct target binding or enzymatic reactions, leading to colour change upon target recognition. Notably, using these new strategies we have achieved ultrasensitive detection limit that are an essential requirement for biosensing applications in resource-limited settings.
Key references:
- D. Howes, R. Chandrawati, M.M. Stevens "Colloidal nanoparticles as advanced biological sensors" Science 2014, 346: 53-63.
- de la Rica, M.M. Stevens "Plasmonic ELISA for the ultrasensitive detection of disease biomarkers with the naked eye"Nature Nanotechnol. 2012, 7: 821-824.
- Rodríguez-Lorenzo, R. de la Rica, R. A. Álvarez-Puebla, L. M. Liz-Marzán, M.M. Stevens
"Plasmonic nanosensors with inverse sensitivity by means of enzyme-guided crystal growth" Nature Mater. 2012, 11: 604-607. - D. Howes, S. Rana, M.M. Stevens, “Plasmonic nanomaterials for biodiagnostics” Chem. Soc. Rev. 2014, 43:3835-3853.
- H. Soh, Y. Lin, S. Rana, J. Ying, M.M. Stevens, “Colorimetric detection of small molecules in complex matrices via target-mediated growth of aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles" Anal. Chem. 2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b00875.
