Development of piezoelectric immunosensor for the rapid detection of marine derived pathogenic bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus

Biosensors consist of biochemical recognition agents like antibodies immobilized on the surfaces of transducers that change the recognition into a measurable electronic signal. Here we report a piezoelectric immunosensor made to detect Vibrio vulnificus. A 9MHz AT-cut piezoelectric wafer attached with two gold electrodes of 5mm diameter was used as the transducer of the QCM biosensor with a reproducibility of <TEX>±0.1Hz</TEX> in frequency response. We have tried different approaches to immobilize antibody on the sensor chip. Concerning the orientation of antibody for the best antigen binding capacity, the antibody was immobilized by specific binding to protein G or by cross-linking through hydrazine. In addition, protein G was cross-linked on glutaraldehyde activated immine layer (PEI) or EDC/NHS activated sulfide monolayer (MPA). PEI was found to be more effective to immobilize protein G following glutaraldehyde activation than MPA. However, hydrazine chip showed a better capability to immobilize more IgG than protein G chip and a higher sensitivity. The sensor system was able to detect V. vulnificus in dose dependent manner and was able to detect bacterial cells within 5 minutes by monitoring frequency shifts in real time. The detection limit can be improved by preincubation to enrich the bacterial cell number.