CAREER: A Probe-less Large-array Protein Sensor via MEMS Technology

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The objective of this research is to tackle fundamental issues in the use of molecular probe in biosensors and implement a micro-packaging via MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) technology. The approach is to use nature?s competitive adsorption phenomena, namely the Vroman effect, which describes how low molecular weight proteins adsorbed on a surface are displaced and exchanged by subsequently higher molecular weight proteins. The biosensors are encapsulated in both chip-level and wafer-level using MEMS technology.Existing MEMS-based biosensors have extremely high sensitivity. To achieve high selectivity, however, they use molecular probes such as nucleic acids, enzymes, and antibodies and are attached to transducer surfaces to capture specific target molecules. However, these probes impose many limitations: expensive reagents, highly-educated technicians to operate, and above all it is impossible to find probes for all target molecules. The proposed research tackles these issues by leveraging nature?s competitive adsorption/exchange phenomena, the Vroman effect. By having a large array of different surfaces that are covered by proteins of known size, it is possible to have a miniaturized protein sensor without using molecular probes.The proposed probe-less biosensor is a new concept, which can lead to new research areas in instruments for biological research. The generic feature of the micro-packaging methodology can be used for other types of MEMS-based devices. The educational activities range from K-12 students and teachers to college students including under-represented minorities and women. Students will experience experiments to understand fundamentals of proteins via the ?YES! Summer Program? at Arizona State University.