Amplified EQCM-D detection of extracellular vesicles using 2D gold nanostructured arrays fabricated by block copolymer self-assembly

Extracellular vesicles (EV) have become a promising source of biomarkers for disease diagnostics via liquid biopsies from readily accessible bodily fluids but challenges remain on the sensitivity, specificity and clinical implementation of current analytical workflows. In this work, we are investigating the impact of tailoring the active sites of the biosensor surface, herein the electrode of a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), to mirror lateral analyte feature sizes. We relate the enhanced sensitivity to improved surface anchoring due to reduced steric effects as a result of sensor nanostructuration and provide guidelines for design considerations.

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/nh/d2nh00424k

Authors: Jugal Suthar, Alberto Alvarez-Fernandez, Esther Osarfo-Mensah, Stefano Angioletti-Uberti, Gareth R. Williams and  Stefan Guldin