DNA -based hydrogels for high-performance optical biosensing application.

ABSTRACT

Analyte-sensitive DNA-based hydrogels find multiple applications in the field of biosensors due to their adaptable nature. Here, the design of DNA-based hydrogel and its application as sensing platform for the detection of a specific target sequence are presented. DNA-functionalized hydrogel structures were formed via a free radical co-polymerization process. A simple one-step probe immobilization procedure is reported DNA probe molecules are added to the photoactive polymer mixture, dispensed onto a solid support, or a mold, and covalently attached while the hydrogel is formed through UV light exposure. Such hydrogels can be synthesized with desired recognition ability through the selection of a certain nucleotide sequence. Here we show the application of DNA-based hydrogel to detect the target with high performance in fluorescence microarray format and, additionally, to fabricate holographic surface relief gratings for label-free sensing assays.