Mobile technology is becoming the hub of future biosensor development. The proposed work attempts to develop an Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor utilizing existing mobile (smartphone) technology, transforming what was traditionally an expensive and bulky biosensor technology into a portable and affordable one. ECL sensors work by a simple principle - when a small electric voltage is applied to an ECL chemical, the chemical emits light. The ECL combined with mobile technology enables minimal instrumentation and mobile app analysis. Our goal is to make this new sensor platform equivalent not only in performance to that of existing expensive biosensors, but also more affordable and for many different biosensor needs.
The goal of this project is to advance the traditional electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor instrumentation to make it more portable and inexpensive using the latest mobile technologies. When an ECL reaction is triggered by the application of electric potential, the emitted light is in a visible spectrum, providing a great potential to satisfy the requirements for an ultra-sensitive immunoassay and in an ultra-compact format. Successful development of the proposed ECL biosensor will significantly enhance biosensor instrumentation by maximizing the practicality of mobile technologies while providing the sensitivity realized by expensive and specialized instruments. There have been attempts to develop ECL sensor with cell phone detectors but they have not been successful in detecting biomarkers at clinically relevant concentrations. The key effort of the proposed work are enhancing the inherently low ECL signal to a level that is detectable with consumer cameras and developing minimal instrumentation for efficient ECL-based detection. The research will focus on design as well as development of protocols with co-reactants, microfluidic channels on screen-printed-electrodes, electric circuits to trigger reactions, and a mobile app to control the circuit, imaging, and data analysis. The ECL immunosensor can be used for diagnosis of disease biomarkers. Its inexpensive and portable nature will make it an ideal platform to use in disaster rescue and recovery situations. The project will be performed at an undergraduate predominant institute maximizing educational aspects and emphasizing the community outreach.
