Detection of prostate specific antigen with nanomechanical resonators

Abstract

In this work, we use arrays of nanomechanical resonators to detect prostate specific antigen (PSA), a protein biomarker associated with prostate cancer. The surfaces of our very thin, trampoline-like devices are functionalized for immunospecific capture of PSA molecules, and the mass of bound material can be detected as a reduction in the resonant frequency. Fetal bovine serum was spiked with known concentrations of PSA, and in conjunction with a nanoparticle-based sandwich assay, concentrations as low as 50 fg mL(-1), or 1.5 fM, could be detected from the realistic samples. The presence of non-specific proteins in the serum did not significantly affect the sensitivity of our assay.