Research abstract
Article abstract
Nature Biotechnology 26, 1285 - 1292 (2008)
Published online: 26 October 2008 | doi:10.1038/nbt.1501
Protein microarrays with carbon nanotubes as multicolor Raman labels
Zhuo Chen1,4, Scott M Tabakman1,4, Andrew P Goodwin1, Michael G Kattah2, Dan Daranciang1, Xinran Wang1, Guangyu Zhang1, Xiaolin Li1, Zhuang Liu1, Paul J Utz2, Kaili Jiang3, Shoushan Fan3 & Hongjie Dai1
Abstract
The current sensitivity of standard fluorescence-based protein detection limits the use of protein arrays in research and clinical diagnosis. Here, we use functionalized, macromolecular single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as multicolor Raman labels for highly sensitive, multiplexed protein detection in an arrayed format. Unlike fluorescence methods, Raman detection benefits from the sharp scattering peaks of SWNTs with minimal background interference, affording a high signal-to-noise ratio needed for ultra-sensitive detection. When combined with surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates, the strong Raman intensity of SWNT tags affords protein detection sensitivity in sandwich assays down to 1 fM—a three-order-of-magnitude improvement over most reports of fluorescence-based detection. We use SWNT Raman tags to detect human autoantibodies against proteinase 3, a biomarker for the autoimmune disease Wegener's granulomatosis, diluted up to 107-fold in 1% human serum. SWNT Raman tags are not subject to photobleaching or quenching. By conjugating different antibodies to pure 12C and 13C SWNT isotopes, we demonstrate multiplexed two-color SWNT Raman-based protein detection.
- Department of Chemistry and Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, 333 Campus Drive, Mudd Building, Room 121, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
- School of Medicine, Stanford University, 269 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
- Department of Physics, Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
- These authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Hongjie Dai1 e-mail: hdai@stanford.edu
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