Multi-labs-on-a chip based optical detection for atto-molar cancer markers concentration

Demand on low-cost, highly miniaturized, rapid, selective and highly sensitive detection methods have become exigent and importunate in favor of low-profusion cancer markers detection. The detection of weakly expressed proteins and protein complexes in biological samples down to single-molecule level represents a major challenge due to the difficulty to achieve an acceptable level of signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, analysis of low abundance analytes can take several hours to days to give accurate results, and require bulky, expensive equipment. In this paper, highly miniaturized and integrated multi-labs-on-a-chip system has been developed comprising fluorescence CMOS detector, microfluidic channel, analyte manipulation/concentration system and novel amplification strategy for the binding event signal in the microfluidic system. The integrated compact and portable developed multi-biosensors CMOS system showed unprecedented sensitivity for ultra-low level in atto-molar (10-18 M) disease markers concentrations. The multi-biosensors were fabricated using CMOSP35 technology and detected numbers of samples with different concentrations; high to low and the results were recorded; accordingly.