Silicon nanowire-transistor biosensor for study of molecule-molecule interactions

Abstract

Monitoring the molecular recognition, binding, and disassociation between probe and target is important in medical diagnostics and drug screening, because such a wealth of information can be used to identify the pathogenic species and new therapeutic candidates. Nanoelectronic biosensors based on silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (SiNW-FETs) have recently attracted tremendous attention as a promising tool in the investigation of biomolecular interactions due to their capability of ultrasensitive, selective, real-time, and label-free detection. Herein, we summarize the recent advances in label-free analysis of molecule-molecule interactions using SiNW-FETs, with a discussion and emphasis on small molecule-biomolecule interaction, biomolecule-biomolecule interactions (including carbohydrate-protein interaction, protein-protein or antigen-antibody binding, and nucleic acid-nucleic acid hybridization), and protein-virus interaction. Such molecular recognitions offer a basis of biosensing and the dynamics assay of biomolecular association or dissociation. Compared to the conventional technologies, SiNW-FETs hold great promise to monitor molecule-molecule interactions with higher sensitivity and selectivity. Finally, several prospects concerning the future development of SiNW-FET biosensor are discussed.

Keywords

• biosensor
• field-effect transistor
• molecule-molecule interactions
• silicon nanowire