Disposable microfluidic immuno-biochip for rapid electrochemical detection of tumor necrosis factor alpha biomarker

This paper presents a disposable microfluidic electrochemical immunosensor for rapid, cheap and quantitative detection of biomarkers. Dual screen-printed carbon electrodes were biofunctionalized with specific antibodies and subsequently encapsulated with an all-disposable polymeric microfluidic cell. The electrochemical detection was carried out by means of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) using a portable potentiostat. One of the two working electrodes was employed as an on-chip integrated negative control. The system was optimized and characterized for the detection of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha), an important inflammation biomarker, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 4.1 ng/mL. Successful experiments in real human serum were also carried out. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.