Differential Impedance Sensing platform for high selectivity antibody detection down to few counts: A case study on Dengue Virus

We developed a biosensing system for serological detection of viruses based on the impedance variation between gold microelectrodes upon the capture of the target antibodies hybridized with nanobeads for signal amplification. The microfluidic platform core features a Differential Impedance Sensing (DIS) architecture between a reference and an active sensor able to reach nanoparticle resolution of few tens. The biosensor, functionalized with a copoly layer housing a synthetic peptide probe, has shown a limit of detection (LOD) below 100 pg/mL using a model IgG antibody spiked in a buffer. The biosensor was also tested with human serum samples for quantitative counts of anti-Dengue Virus antibodies, reaching a sensitivity that outperforms commercial ELISA kit. The system is perfectly suited to be easily reconfigured for novel probes by simply modifying the preparation of the biosensor chip surface, thus addressing a wide range of pathogens and diseases with clinically relevant concentrations for rapid immunoassays in a point of care setting.