The heat-transfer method HTM : a new concept for biosensors

Orateur : Prof. Patrick WAGNER (K.U.Leuven, Belgium)

In this contribution we will report on the heat-transfer method (HTM), which was discovered in 2012 by serendipity during studies on the thermally induced denaturation of DNA brushes immobilized on synthetic diamond electrodes. By heating the chip from the backside, the heat-transfer resistance Rth of the solid-liquid interface shows an unexpected jump upon the conformational change from rigid ds-DNA to flexible ss-DNA. This way, the DNA-melting temperature can be identified thermometrically and this straightforward method is sufficiently sensitive to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Interestingly enough, the heat-transfer method can also serve as a readout principle in a variety of other bioanalytical challenges including i) the identification of cancer cells by whole-cell receptors, ii) the detection of neurotransmitters, and iii) the monitoring of phase transitions in lipid vesicles. Although the heat-transfer effect is theoretically not yet understood, it appears to be related to a softening of molecular vibrations at the interphase between the sensor chip and the aqueous phase.

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