Multi-functional Biochip for Medical Diagnostics and Pathogen Detection

Abstract

There is an urgent need to develop monitoring devices capable of screening multiple medical diseases and detecting multiple infectious pathogens simultaneously. A critical factor in biomedical diagnostics involves selectivity and sensitivity for detection of a wide variety of biochemical substances (e.g., proteins, metabolites, nucleic acids), biological species or living systems (bacteria, virus or related components) at trace levels in complex biological samples (e.g., tissues, blood, other body fluids, and environmental biosamples). Biosensors are diagnostic devices that employ the powerful molecular recognition capability of bioreceptors such as antibodies, DNA, enzymes and cellular components of living systems. The operating principle of a biosensor involves detection of this molecular recognition and transforming it into another type of signal using a transducer that may produce either an optical signal (i.e., optical biosensors) or an electrochemical signal (i.e., electrochemical biosensors). A biosensor that involves the use of a microchip system for detection is often referred to as a bio-chip.