Ultrathin Gold Nanowire Biosensors

睾丸癌是20至39岁男性中最常见的癌症。癌症的早期检测对患者有足够的益处，因为治疗不太复杂，并且可以在不对生育能力产生显著影响的情况下进行。本研究将为非侵入性的早期发现提供一种新的方法。其原理是使用镀金线（大约比人类头发小十万倍）来电感应少量特定生物标志物蛋白（HCG）的存在。这种传感器的工作原理是简单地让电流流过金纳米线。在将HCG蛋白附着到特定生物功能化的纳米线上之后，我们将能够检测到流过该线的电流的变化。这将是第一次将金属丝以这种方式用于检测蛋白质。一旦证明成功，我们将研究这些纳米线检测其他重要生物标志物蛋白的能力。在这项研究的过程中，我将对化学合成的纳米金纳米线进行四探针传输测量，以确定纳米尺度对电阻率的影响。除了实验，我们将生成计算模型，为我们提供一个详细的基本了解的传感能力的CNONW。除了这项研究计划之外，我们还计划扩展NW的生物传感能力，以检测其他癌症和疾病。

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer found in males aged between 20 and 39 years. Early detection of the cancer has sufficient benefits to the patient because the treatment is less complicated and can be performed without having a significant effect on fertility. The research in this study will provide a new way of achieving early detection in a non-invasive manner. The principle is to use ultrathin gold wires (approximately one hundred thousand times smaller than a human hair) to electrically sense the presence of small quantities of specific biomarker proteins (HCG). The sensor works by simply flowing a current through the ultrathin gold nanowires. After the attachment of the HCG protein onto the specifically biofunctionalised nanowire, we will be able to detect a change in the electrical current flowing through the wire. This will be the first time ultrathin metal wires have been used in this manner to detect proteins. Once proven successful we will study the ability of these nanowires to sense other important biomarker proteins. During the course of this research I will be performing four-probe transport measurements on chemically synthesized ultrathin gold nanowires to determine the effect the nanoscale dimensions have on the resistivity. In addition to the experiments, we will be generating computation models to provide us with a detailed fundamental understanding of the sensing capability of ultrathin NWs. Beyond this research program, we plan to extend the biosensing capabilities of the NWs to detect other cancers and diseases.