Special Issue, Vol. 3, December 2008, pp.87-96

Optimization of Phage-Based Magnetoelastic Biosensor Performance

¹S. Huang, ¹S.-Q. Li, ¹H. Yang, ¹M. Johnson, ¹J. Wan, ²I. Chen, ³V. A. Petrenko,
²J. M. Barbaree, and ¹B. A. Chin

¹Dept. of Materials Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

²Dept. of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

³Dept. of Pathobiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

Received: 31 October 2008   /Accepted: 7 November 2008   /Published: 8 December 2008

Abstract: A magnetoelastic (ME) platform coated with a bio-molecular recognition element (bacteriophage) for selective and specific recognition of Bacillus anthracis spores is described. As a wireless sensor, the resonance frequency of the ME sensor decreases in response to the binding of target biological species, which enables the possibility of real time and in vivo bio-detection. In this work, fabrication parameters, such as annealing temperature and phage immobilization condition, were investigated to optimize the sensor. In addition, the detection strategy was studied to further improve the performance of ME sensor. It was found that annealing at 200-250 °C in a vacuum oven can effectively increase the ME platform's stability, Q-factor. Based on the sensor response and SEM results, a phage concentration of 1×10¹¹ vir/ml and a salt concentration of 420 mM in 1xTBS provide the best sensor performance in terms of binding sensitivity. The feasibility of multiple-sensor detection was also demonstrated.

Keywords: Magnetoelastic, Biosensor, Phage, Annealing, Bundling, Bacillus anthracis spores

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