Magnetic-responsive upconversion luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

Jiareng Chen, Willis Kwun Hei Ho, Bohan Yin, Qin Zhang, Chuanqi Li, Jiaxiang Yan, Yingying Huang, Jianhua Hao, Changqing Yi, Yu Zhang, Siu Hong Dexter Wong, Mo Yang

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are ideal donors for luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET)-based biosensors due to their excellent upconversion luminescence properties. However, the relatively large size of antibodies and proteins limits the application of UCNPs-based LRET biosensors in protein detection because the large steric hindrance of proteins leads to low energy transfer efficiency between UCNPs and receptors. Herein, we developed a magnetic responsive UCNPs-based LRET biosensor to control the coupling distance between antibody-functionalized UCNPs (Ab-UCNPs) as donors and antibody-PEG linker-magnetic gold nanoparticles (Ab-PEG-MGNs) as acceptors for ultrasensitive and highly selective detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins. Our results showed that this platform reversibly shortened the coupling distance between UCNPs and MGNs and enhanced the LRET signal with a 10-fold increase in the limit of detection (LOD) from 20.6 pg/mL without magnetic modulation to 2.1 pg/mL with magnetic modulation within 1 h. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation with cyclic distance change confirmed the distance-dependent LRET efficiency under magnetic modulation, which supported the experimental results. Moreover, the applications of this magnetic-responsive UCNP-based LRET biosensor could be extended to other large-size biomolecule detection.

Original languageEnglish
Article number115969
JournalBiosensors and Bioelectronics
Volume248
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Mar 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Biophysics
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Electrochemistry

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