Apta- and Immuno-Sensors Performance Optimization: A Comparative Study of Surface Functionalization Techniques

Abstract

Surface bio-functionalization plays a critical role in the performance of a biosensor and numerous techniques for the enhancement of a biosensor’s surface coverage with oriented capture biomolecules have been developed with the ultimate goal of optimizing a sensor’s performance in terms of its sensitivity and linear response over a wide dynamic range. Herein, highlights of a comparative assessment into the most promising approaches to achieve this goal are being presented. For aptamer-modified surfaces, polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers and polysaccharide networks were employed with the obtained results clearly indicating that a much denser surface coverage with aptamers can be achieved with the use of the latter. For the functionalization of surfaces with antibodies, the orientation and density of immobilized antibodies onto recombinant protein A/G- or boronic acid-modified substrates were compared, with the former leading not only to increased antibody loading but also with such an orientation that permits enhanced antigen binding. The conclusions reached can be used as a starting point for the customization of sensor functionalization in a plethora of clinical, environmental and even food-industry-related biosensing platforms.

Keywords

• immunosensor
• aptasensor
• surface functionalization enhancement