Electrical biochip technology - a tool for microarrays and continuous monitoring

Based on electrical biochips made in Si-technology cost effective portable devices have been constructed for field applications and point of care diagnosis. These miniaturized amperometric biosensor devices enable the evaluation of biomolecular interactions by measuring the redox recycling of ELISA products, as well as the electrical monitoring of metabolites. The highly sensitive redox recycling is facilitated by interdigitated ultramicroelectrodes of high spatial resolution. The application of these electrical biochips as DNA microarrays for the molecular diagnosis of viral infections demonstrates the measurement procedure. Self-assembling of capture oligonucleotides via thiol-gold coupling has been used to construct the DNA interface on-chip. Another application for this electrical detection principle is continuous measuring with bead-based biosensors. Here, paramagnetic nanoparticles are used as carriers of the bioanalytical interface in ELISA format. A Si-micromachined glucose sensor for continuous monitoring in interstitial fluid ex vivo shows the flexibility of the electrical platform. Here the novel approach is a pore membrane in micrometer-dimensions acting as a diffusion barrier. The electrochemical detection takes place in a cavity containing glucose oxidase and a Pt-electrode surface. The common hydrogen peroxide detection, together with Si technology, enable precise differential measurements using a second cavity.