Screen-printed integrated microsystem for the electrochemical detection of pathogens

Fast, reliable, selective and high sensitive pathogen detection from different samples is a necessary requirement in current legislation; besides today's society demands a decrease in the time to detect the presence of pathogens. A low-cost, easy-to-fabricate microsystem, where the electrodes are both structural and functional elements, capable of electrochemically detecting those microorganisms has been manufactured by screen-printing techniques. Capturing of the microorganisms in solution is carried out by paramagnetic immunoparticles that are then electrophoretically immobilized inside the microsystem. Immobilization, lysis and detection of the microorganism are operations that have been integrated inside the microsystem and are constantly electrochemically monitored. The electrochemical detection has been investigated by electrical and electrochemical impedance and by amperometric methods. The electrochemical detection platform shows here concentrations of 10² and 10⁸ CFU/mL have been detected in less than 30-min time since the sample is introduced. The microsystem has a tunable volume down to 10 μL and the whole microsystem has dimensions that open a great window for future applications and implementation in portable pathogen control devices.