Periodic Concentration-Polarization-Based Formation of a Biomolecule Preconcentrate for Enhanced Biosensing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cyclic ionic concentration polarization method to create a periodic biomolecule preconcentrate, significantly improving biosensing sensitivity by maintaining analyte contact with capture agents longer.

Contribution

It presents a novel cyclic CP activation technique that enhances biomolecule preconcentration stability and detection sensitivity in biosensing applications.

Findings

Demonstrated cyclic CP can form stable biomolecule plugs

Optimized on/off intervals maximize retention time

Enhanced immunoassay sensitivity achieved

Abstract

Ionic concentration-polarization (CP)-based biomolecule preconcentration is an established method for enhancing the detection sensitivity of target biomolecules. However, the formed preconcentrated biomolecule plug rapidly sweeps over the surface-immobilized antibodies, resulting in a short-term overlap between the capture agent and the analyte, and subsequently suboptimal binding. To overcome this, we designed a setup allowing for periodic formation of a preconcentrated biomolecule plug by activating the CP for predetermined on/off intervals. This work demonstrated the feasibility of the cyclic CP actuation and optimized the sweeping conditions required to obtain maximum retention time of a preconcentrated plug over a desired sensing region and enhanced detection sensitivity. The ability of this method to efficiently preconcentrate different analytes and to successfully increase immunoassay sensitivity, underscore its potential in immunoassays serving the clinical and food testing industries.