Impedance Based MEMS Biosensor for

Detection of Foodborne Pathogen

Publisher: IEEE
Published Year: April 22-26, 2018, Singapore
Author: Jiayu Liu, Ibrahem Jasim, Shibajyoti G. Dastider,
Amjed Abdullah, Zhenyu Shen, Ferris Dweik, Lu Zhao, Nuh
S. Yuksek, Shuping Zhang, Majed Dweik, Mahmoud
Almasri.

Presented by
A Dinesh Kumar
BE14B006
Content
 Introduction
 Method
1) Sensor Design
2) Sensor Fabrication
3) Antibody Immobilization
4)Antigens Capturing
 Result and Disscusion
1) Focusing Effect
2) Antigen Serogroup Selectivity
 Conclusion
Introduction
 Foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella,
Campylobacter, Listeria, and Escherichia coli O157:H3
are causing thousands of infections every year
 The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
estimates that diseases caused by such foodborne
pathogens has led to an estimated 48 million sick people
annually, which result in 128,000 hospitalizations
 Salmonella Enterica is one among the most often
reported foodborne pathogens that cause illness
Introduction
 There are many methods that have demonstrated the
capability to detect Salmonella. The traditional bacterial
culture methods are still used as the gold standard for
foodborne pathogens detection. It takes 2-5 days for a
confirmed diagnosis which make this method time
consuming and laborious
 The PCR is faster compared to culture methods. However,
it still requires 24 hours and overnight transportation of the
samples. It may also result in false positive
Introduction
 The biosensor device consists of three electrodes
fabricated in three different channels for detection of 3
pathogens. This paper reports the design, fabrication and
characterization of an impedance biosensor that utilizes
MEMS technology to simultaneously detect three different
Salmonella serogroups in ready to eat Turkey matrix
within only 1 hour.
 The application of the function of sample focusing has
made the design achieve detection of Salmonella in
extremely low concentration
Method
1. Sensor Design
2. Sensor Fabrication
3. Antibody Immobilization
4. Antigens Capturing
1. Sensor Design
 The new biosensor design includes the following
innovative features:
1) A focusing region for concentrating the pathogens
sample by getting rid of over 70% volume of the testing
material. This has improved the device’s ability to detect
bacteria at a low concentration
2) A region for pathogens sensing consists of multiple
sets of interdigitated electrode (IDE) arrays the electrode
surfaces were functionalized with a mixture of specific
Salmonella antibodies (strain type B, D, and E) and cross-
linker (SulfoLC-SPDP) independently without causing any
cross contamination via the antibody inlets
1. Sensor Design
2) Sensor Fabrication
(1) The glass slide was first cleaned using Piranha
solution.
(2) A 4μm thin layer of SU-8 was spin coated on the
surface of the glass slide.
(3) Chromium and gold thin layers were deposited using
DC sputtering on SU-8 layer with thickness of 50nm and
150nm respectively.
(4) The gold film was etched to pattern IDEA arrays,
bonding pads, focusing region and seed layer for
electroplating.
2) Sensor Fabrication
(5) AZ4620 positive photoresist was patterned as mold for
electroplated vertical walls, gold was then electroplated for
15μm.
(6) The microchannel was formed by SU-8 2025 negative
photoresist.
(7) Two layers of polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS) were
prepared to seal the device with fluidic connectors served
as inlets and outlets
Sensor Fabrication
 3) Antibody Immobilization
 The three types of Salmonella antibodies were mixed
separately with the cross-linker (Sulfo-LC-SPDP). Then the
mixtures were delivered to the device through antibody inlets
using syringe pumps at a constant flow rate
 The electrode surface were then functionalized with the
antibodies, one for each sensing region without causing any
cross contamination. The flow was stopped for 1 hour to
allow the antibodies to immobilize on the gold electrodes.
4) Antigens Capturing
 Ready to eat turkey (RTE) breast meat was purchased and
spiked with an avirlent S. enterica Typhimurium strain
(serogroup B).
 The mixture was then introduced to the channel by through
the sample inlet using a syringe pump at a constant flow
rate.
 The flow was stopped for 30 minutes to allow the biological
interaction between the antibodies and the antigens to form
antibodies-antigens binding.
Results and Disscusion
1) Focussing Effect
Results and Discussion- Focussing Effect
 The focusing function of the biosensor was tested with
polystyrene microbeads which was introduced into the
channel. When a AC signal was applied across the
bonding pad for focusing region, the focusing electrodes
would generated a non-uniform E-field forcing the
microbeads to move toward the center of the channel.
 Similar electrical filed was applied to the biological
sample to concentrate cells towards the sensing region.
 Experiments were conducted on bacteria detection with
and without the focusing function, the focusing function
improved the measured signal by a factor of 4
Results and Disscusion
2) Antigen Serogroup Selectivity

 Impedence response of the device for Salmonella strain

B concentration of (a) 8 CFU/ml, (b) 90 CFU/ml.
Antigen Serogroup Selectivity
 The three mixtures of antibodies (B, D and E) were
immobilized on the corresponding detection electrodes
– B on the 1st sensing region, D on the 2nd sensing
region, and E on the 3rd sensing region.
 The impedance of each sensing region was measured
over the range of the frequencies from 100Hz to
10MHz before and after the injection of Salmonella
enterica.
 The impedance differences between antibodies and
antigens were then calculated for each sensing region
Conclusion
 The results demonstrate a high impedance difference of
the region where antibody B was coated and the other
two regions where antibody D and E were coated had a
weak signal or no signal. The results indicate the high
specificity of the device to specific Salmonella
serogroup.
 The results have shown that the focusing function has
dramatically increased the response sensitivity while the
device could also rapidly detect multiple Salmonella
serogroups or pathogen types without cross
contamination.
Thank you