Carbon nanotube biosensor developed for detecting protein

30 June 2010

Researchers at Boston College have developed a carbon nanotube biosensor, which could detect ferritin, protein used for storing iron and E7 oncoprotein. The new carbon nanotube biosensor was prepared by coating a thin layer of selected polymer and the system uses electrochemical signals that detect minute quantities of protein.

According to the multidisciplinary team of researchers including biologists, chemists and physicist at the Boston College, the biosensor could identify and discriminate from a number of varieties of protein having different shapes. The research finding has recently been reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

A lot of research is going on the use of polymer structure based sensors for identifying certain organic materials, however its application in recognizing protein has been a great challenge for researchers. The team uses wire like nanotubes of carbon and coated them with non-conducting polymer for recognizing protein at subpicogram level.

In the molecular imprinting technique, the imprints reduces the thickness of the coating and therefore these regions of the polymer register lower level of impedance when contacted by the charges and once the protein molecule drops in the mirror image, it fills the space and the nanotube registers a change in impedance signaling the presence of the protein.

The available diagnostic tools at present available for diagnosing papillomaviruse or any other virustakes quite a lot of time, however with the molecular imprinting technique, it is possible to detect the virus in real time. Thus the nanotube sensors have the advantage of tracking HPV protein directly and further no chemical marker is required for detection.

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