Scientific Reports (Sep 2023)

Rapid, high-sensitivity detection of biomolecules using dual-comb biosensing

  • Shogo Miyamura,
  • Ryo Oe,
  • Takuya Nakahara,
  • Hidenori Koresawa,
  • Shota Okada,
  • Shuji Taue,
  • Yu Tokizane,
  • Takeo Minamikawa,
  • Taka-Aki Yano,
  • Kunihiro Otsuka,
  • Ayuko Sakane,
  • Takuya Sasaki,
  • Koji Yasutomo,
  • Taira Kajisa,
  • Takeshi Yasui

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41436-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Abstract Rapid, sensitive detection of biomolecules is important for biosensing of infectious pathogens as well as biomarkers and pollutants. For example, biosensing of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still strongly required for the fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we aim to achieve the rapid and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein antigen by enhancing the performance of optical biosensing based on optical frequency combs (OFC). The virus-concentration-dependent optical spectrum shift produced by antigen–antibody interactions is transformed into a photonic radio-frequency (RF) shift by a frequency conversion between the optical and RF regions in the OFC, facilitating rapid and sensitive detection with well-established electrical frequency measurements. Furthermore, active-dummy temperature-drift compensation with a dual-comb configuration enables the very small change in the virus-concentration-dependent signal to be extracted from the large, variable background signal caused by temperature disturbance. The achieved performance of dual-comb biosensing will greatly enhance the applicability of biosensors to viruses, biomarkers, environmental hormones, and so on.