Core-shell particle formation in DNA biosensing

ANYL 246

Lin He, lin_he@ncsu.edu and Xinhui Lou, xlou@unity.ncsu.edu. Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, 317 Partners III, Raleigh, NC 27695
Biosensors have been widely deployed in disease detection as well as environmental management. The constant challenge nowadays lies in building cost-effective and portable biosensors of increasing levels of sensitivity and selectivity. We present herein the development of a novel biomolecule detection method based on the growth of polymer brushes on nanoparticles upon biomolecular recognition. The formation of polymer shells stabilizes the particles, even under concentrated salt conditions. The resulted color differences between the particles of complementary DNA sequences and the control one is easily distinguishable by naked eyes. Experiment variables such as hybridization condition, polymerization kinetics, and particle stability are studied. The adaptation of such scheme in genome DNA detection is also presented.