SWCNTs modified nanoneedle biosensor for rapid detection of DNA

The increasing availability of genetic information demands more simple and rapid methodology for nucleic acid testing. To this end, cumbersome procedural steps with long amplification time (>1 hour) for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been a major challenge for rapid identification of genetic information. This paper addresses the challenge of rapidly identifying genetic information. Unlike other amplification-based detection methods, a nanostructured needle modified with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is capable of rapidly concentrating and detecting small amounts of DNA, due to a concentration and reaction step controlled by an electric field. The nanoneedle can detect DNA at the concentration of 100 attomolar (aM) in a given sample volume (e.g. 5 μL). Since the nanoneedle device does not require nucleic acid amplification, it is significantly faster and simpler than PCR approaches.