Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Nat Chem. 2021 May;13(5):428-434. doi: 10.1038/s41557-021-00644-y. Epub 2021 Mar 8.
The development of reagentless sensors that can detect molecular analytes in biological fluids could enable a broad range of applications in personalized health monitoring. However, only a limited set of molecular inputs can currently be detected using reagentless sensors. Here, we report a sensing mechanism that is compatible with the analysis of proteins that are important physiological markers of stress, allergy, cardiovascular health, inflammation and cancer. The sensing method is based on the motion of an inverted molecular pendulum that exhibits field-induced transport modulated by the presence of a bound analyte. We measure the sensor's electric field-mediated transport using the electron-transfer kinetics of an attached reporter molecule. Using time-resolved electrochemical measurements that enable unidirectional motion of our sensor, the presence of an analyte bound to our sensor complex can be tracked continuously in real time. We show that this sensing approach is compatible with making measurements in blood, saliva, urine, tears and sweat and that the sensors can collect data in situ in living animals.
无试剂传感器的发展可以在个性化健康监测中实现广泛的应用，这些传感器可以检测生物流体中的分子分析物。然而，目前只能使用无试剂传感器检测有限数量的分子输入。在这里，我们报告了一种与分析对压力、过敏、心血管健康、炎症和癌症等生理标志物很重要的蛋白质兼容的传感机制。该传感方法基于一种倒置分子摆的运动，该分子摆的运动表现为受结合分析物存在调制的场诱导传输。我们使用附着的报告分子的电子转移动力学来测量传感器的电场介导传输。使用能够实现我们的传感器单向运动的时间分辨电化学测量，可以实时连续跟踪与我们的传感器复合物结合的分析物的存在。我们表明，这种传感方法可与在血液、唾液、尿液、眼泪和汗液中进行测量兼容，并且传感器可以在活体动物体内进行原位数据收集。
