Miniaturized electrochemical sensor modified with aptamers for rapid norovirus detection

This paper presents a miniaturized MEMS (microelectromechanical systems)-based electrochemical aptasensor, which utilizes aptamer as the recognition element for simple, sensitive and rapid detection of norovirus. The novelty of this work is integration of micro fabrication technology with aptamers to develop a miniaturized and portable electrochemical sensor for environmental pathogen monitoring. The binding capability between aptamers and on-chip sensing electrodes was investigated and the performance of the proposed MEMS electrochemical aptasensor was evaluated with respect to sensor response to different titers of murine norovirus, a model of human norovirus. This research forms initial basis for the development of an electrochemical MEMS-aptasensor platform and its application for virus detection.