Detection of Proteins Using Nano Magnetic Particle Accumulation-Based Signal Amplification

We report a biosensing method based on magnetic particles where coated magnetic particles are used for immunomagnetic separation, and uncoated magnetic particles are used for signal enhancement. To quantify the signal amplification, optical micrographs are analyzed to measure changes in pixel area and pixel intensity. Microcontact-printed surface receptors are arranged in alternating lines on gold chips, enabling differential calculations. In a model experiment, target molecules-streptavidin-are first captured and separated by biotin-coated magnetic particles, and then exposed to a gold surface functionalized with biotin-coupled bovine serum albumin, forming a sandwich assay. Applying a magnetic field and introducing uncoated magnetic particles resulted in accumulation around magnetic particles in the sandwich assay and enhancement of the contrast to noise ratio at least by eight-fold in a range of 0.1-100 mu M.