DNA origami for biosensor applications

Novel biosensors are incorporating aspects of nanotechnologies, such as the use of functional nanoparticles, in order to increase performance. For the integration of leading edge sensor principles based on nanoparticles, often the precise arrangement of nanostructures is an essential technology. One approach that has been pursued with great success is the template based DNA origami method [1, 2]. The DNA origami can serve as an individual inter- und intramolecular programmable nano-breadboard with a binding point resolution of similar to 5 nm. Our novel, innovative approach uses the DNA origami template to integrate a biological recognition element (DNA aptamer / antibody) centrically in a nanoparticle array to enable an optical detection by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. For high sensor sensitivity despite complex probes, a sufficient signal accumulation is necessary, done by a selective surface immobilization of the biosensor platform. In this way, a high structure density could be realized without overlapping or agglomeration, which would lead to functional damage of the sensor. We introduce a topography supported thin-film system for the selective surface immobilization of the DNA origami and validate them by a parameter variation of a tablet DNA origami structure, which will be the later template of the biosensor platform.