Surface acoustic wave sensors show potential for protein detection by monitoring changes in amplitude and phase shift of the sensor output. As solutions containing proteins like bovine serum albumin dried on the sensor, the output signal became more attenuated, with greater concentrations correlating to increased attenuation. While viscosity and concentration appeared to impact the sensor response, further testing is needed to validate protein detection. Future work aims to miniaturize the sensor components and evaluate detecting antibody-antigen binding for point-of-care applications.

1. Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor for Protein Detection 1Peter D. Southland, 1Ilya I. Lifshits, 1Andrew B. St. Amour, 2Dennis J. O’Rourke, 2Daniel A. DiJohnson, 3David L. Arruda, 2Brian C-S. Liu, and 1Douglas E. Dow 1Dept. of Electronics and Mechanical, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA, USA 2Molecular Urology Laboratory, Division of Urology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 3Medical Engineering & Medical Physics, Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology, Boston, MA, USA

3. Microelectrical sensors may be useful for antigen detection in microarrays

4. SAW sensorsArruda DL, Wilson WC, Nguyen C, Yao QW, Caiazzo RJ, Talpasanu I, Dow DE, Liu BCS; “Microelectrical Sensors as Emerging Platforms for Protein Biomarker Detection in Point-of-care Diagnostics”, Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics, 9(7):749-755, 2009.

6. As gel solidified and dried, the SAW output signal progressively became more attenuated and delayed (increased phase shift)

7. Output of SAW sensor

8. before solution placed (No Solution)

9. immediately after placement of solution (0 min)

11. As solution dried, the SAW output signal became more attenuated

12. Solutions with greater concentration appeared to trend with increased attenuation

13. Output Amplitude of SAW sensor normalized as % of value before solution placed.

14. before solution placed (Clean)

15. immediately after placement of solution (Wet)

17. To develop toward a point of care platform, the instrumentation for the SAW sensor signal generation and analysis should be miniaturized .