Wireless real-time label free nano-biosensor for bacteria detection
by Tian, Yang; Acosta, Rudy; Fan, Chenguang; Tian, Ryan
An easy access to a simple, rapid, sensitive, and low-cost detector of bacteria is a longstanding demand in not only health care, but also in food industry and homeland security. Currently, mol. (RT-PCR) and cell culture methods that are commonly used for bacteria detection, however, require special reagents, equipment, and training. As a result, these methods are labor intensive, time consuming, and expensive. Here, we report on a novel type of radiofrequency-WiFi-enabled nano-biosensing methodol. that, by design, provides real-time wireless monitoring of bacteria at ultralow costs. Currently, commercialized technologies can detect bacterial fragments (e.g. DNA, RNA, protein). In comparison to these existing methods, the new methodol. can detect live bacteria directly by monitoring the bacterial metabolism in real-time continuously. In addition to the high sensitivity for detecting 1-10 live bacteria, this disruptive nanosensor is 1) highly specific, 2) palm-size, 3) real-time (3-5 s), 4) simple to fabricate and use, 5) wireless in transmitting data, 6) ultralow-cost (<$0.10/each), and 7) highly versatile for detecting bacteria, macrophage, mammalian cells, etc. To the best of our knowledge, no other technol. in the market can detect so many different targets. This new work may have fundamental impacts to metabolomics across biol. disciplines and to new biosensor innovations and diagnosis advancements in general.