Detection Principle

Electrical Biochips — a universal bioanalytical platform

At the heart of all systems is the disposable silicon-based biochip sensor. The sensor consists of two parts: the bio-interface and the nanostructured transducer silicon chip. Each biochip has sixteen sensing positions which allows the measurement of several analytes in a single experiment. During an experiment, the sample makes direct contact with the biointerface whose key feature is its specificity to the analyte of interest. Specificity is imparted to the biointerface by a suitable biological component (e.g., antibody, oligonucleotide) which selectively binds or "fits" to the analyte of interest. This allows the separation of the analyte from the other species present in the sample. The silicon chip acts as an electrical sensing unit for the analyte with the aid of an enzymatic and electrochemical reaction. The working principle of an assay is the direct relationship of the electrical signal to the amount of analyte present in the sample.

An outline of the detection process:

The highly sensitive read-out of the electrical transducer is shock resistant and insensitive to turbidity and other optical interferences.