Biosensors for Detection of Viruses in the Air

Thermoplasmonic-assisted two-step self-validating detection of SARS-CoV-2

Our group continues to push the boundaries of plasmonic detection of SARS-CoV-2. The new results are published in “Thermoplasmonic-Assisted Cyclic Cleavage Amplification for Self-Validating Plasmonic Detection of SARS-CoV-2” in ACS Nano (Qiu, G., Gai, Z., Saleh, L., Tang, J., Gui, T., Kullak-Ublick, G., Wang, J. 2021, external page https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c00957).

COVID-19 has penetrated every populated patch of the globe and sows destruction in our daily life. Reliable and sensitive virus sensing systems are therefore of vital importance for timely infection detection and transmission prevention. Here we present a thermoplasmonic-assisted dual-mode transducing (TP-DMT) concept, where an amplification-free-based direct viral RNA detection and an amplification-based cyclic fluorescence probe cleavage (CFPC) detection collaborated to provide a sensitive and self-validating plasmonic nanoplatform for quantifying trace amounts of SARS-CoV-2 within 30 min. In the CFPC detection, endonuclease IV recognized the synthetic abasic-site and cleaved the fluorescent probes in the hybridized duplex. The nanoscale thermoplasmonic heating dehybridized the shortened fluorescent probes and facilitated the cyclical binding-cleavage-dissociation (BCD) process, which could deliver a highly sensitive amplification-based response. This TP-DMT approach was successfully validated by testing clinical COVID-19 patient samples, which indicated its potential applications in fast clinical infection screening and real-time environmental monitoring.

Other Publications

Qiu, G., Gai, Z., Tao, Y., Schmitt, J., Kullak-Ublick, G.A., Wang, J. (2020) Dual-Functional Plasmonic Photothermal Biosensors for Highly Accurate Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Detection, ACS Nano, external page https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c02439