Here, in an effort towards facile and fast screening/diagnosis of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), we combined the unprecedently sensitive graphene field-effect transistor (Gr-FET) with highly selective antibody-antigen interaction to develop a coronavirus immunosensor. The Gr-FET immunosensors can rapidly identify (about 2 mins) and accurately capture the COVID-19 spike protein S1 (which contains a receptor binding domain, RBD) at a limit of detection down to 0.2 pM, in a real-time and label-free manner. Further results ensure that the Gr-FET immunosensors can be promisingly applied to screen for high-affinity antibodies (with binding constant up to 2*10^11 M^-1 against the RBD) at concentrations down to 0.1 pM. Thus, our developed electrical Gr-FET immunosensors provide an appealing alternative to address the early screening/diagnosis as well as the analysis and rational design of neutralizing-antibody locking methods of this ongoing public health crisis.
@article{arxiv.2003.12529,
title = {Electrical probing of COVID-19 spike protein receptor binding domain via a graphene field-effect transistor},
author = {Xiaoyan Zhang and Qige Qi and Qiushi Jing and Shen Ao and Zhihong Zhang and Mingchao Ding and Muhong Wu and Kaihui Liu and Weipeng Wang and Yunhan Ling and Zhengjun Zhang and Wangyang Fu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.12529},
year = {2020}
}