An illustration of the graphene-based COVID-19 spike protein detection procedure established at UIC. The white rectangular shape represents the substrate with graphene functionalized with SARS-CoV-2 antibody (displayed in yellow). When this graphene detector engages with the infection’ spike protein in a COVID-positive sample, its atomic vibration frequency modifications. Credit: Vikas Berry
Researchers reveal a graphene-based sensing unit can spot SARS-CoV-2.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have actually effectively utilized graphene — among the greatest, thinnest recognized products — to spot the SARS-CoV-2 infection in lab experiments. The scientists state the discovery might be an advancement in coronavirus detection, with prospective applications in the battle versus COVID-19 and its versions.
In experiments, scientists integrated sheets of graphene, which are more than 1,000 times thinner than a postage stamp, with an antibody created to target the notorious spike protein on the coronavirus. They then determined the atomic-level vibrations of these graphene sheets when exposed to COVID-positive and COVID-negative samples in synthetic saliva. These sheets were likewise evaluated in the existence of other coronaviruses, like Middle East breathing syndrome, or MERS-CoV.
The UIC scientists discovered that the vibrations of the antibody-coupled graphene sheet altered when treated with a COVID-positive sample, however not when treated with a COVID-negative sample or with other coronaviruses. Vibrational modifications, determined with a gadget called a Raman spectrometer, appeared in under 5 minutes.
Their findings were released on June 15, 2021, in the journal AIR CONDITIONER Nano.
“We have been developing graphene sensors for many years. In the past, we have built detectors for cancer cells and ALS. It is hard to imagine a more pressing application than to help stem the spread of the current pandemic,” stated Vikas Berry, teacher and head of chemical engineering at the UIC College of Engineering and senior author of the paper. “There is a clear need in society for better ways to quickly and accurately detect COVID and its variants, and this research has the potential to make a real difference. The modified sensor is highly sensitive and selective for COVID, and it is fast and inexpensive.”
“This project has been an amazingly novel response to the need and demand for detection of viruses, quickly and accurately,” stated research study co-author Garrett Lindemann, a scientist with Carbon Advanced Materials and Products, or CAMP. “The development of this technology as a clinical testing device has many advantages over the currently deployed and used tests.”
Berry states that graphene — which has actually been called a “wonder material” — has distinct homes that make it extremely flexible, making this kind of sensing unit possible.
Graphene is a single-atom-thick product comprised of carbon. Carbon atoms are bound by chemical bonds whose flexibility and motion can produce resonant vibrations, likewise referred to as phonons, which can be extremely properly determined. When a particle like a SARS-CoV-2 particle engages with graphene, it alters these resonant vibrations in a really particular and measurable method.
“Graphene is just one atom thick, so a molecule on its surface is relatively enormous and can produce a specific change in its electronic energy,” Berry stated. “In this experiment, we modified graphene with an antibody and, in essence, calibrated it to react only with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Using this method, graphene could similarly be used to detect COVID-19 variants.”
The scientists state the prospective applications for a graphene atomic-level sensing unit — from spotting COVID to ALS to cancer — continue to broaden.
A provisionary patent has actually been sent based upon this work.
Reference: “COVID-19 Spike Protein Induced Phononic Modification in Antibody-Coupled Graphene for Viral Detection Application” by Ngoc Hoang Lan Nguyen, Sungjoon Kim, Garrett Lindemann and Vikas Berry, 15 June 2021, AIR CONDITIONER Nano.
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c02549
Additional co-authors of the paper consist of Ngoc Hoang Lan Nguyen and Sungjoon Kim of UIC. The work has actually been moneyed by Ramaco Carbon and their affiliate CAMP, and partially by the Office of Naval Research.
