A simple, low-cost instrument for electrochemiluminescence immunoassays based on a Raspberry Pi and screen-printed electrodes

Laena D'Alton; Serena Carrara; Gregory J Barbante; David Hoxley; David J Hayne; Paul S Francis; Conor F Hogan

doi:10.1016/j.bioelechem.2022.108107

A simple, low-cost instrument for electrochemiluminescence immunoassays based on a Raspberry Pi and screen-printed electrodes

Bioelectrochemistry. 2022 Aug:146:108107. doi: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2022.108107. Epub 2022 Mar 23.

Authors

Laena D'Alton¹, Serena Carrara¹, Gregory J Barbante², David Hoxley¹, David J Hayne³, Paul S Francis³, Conor F Hogan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
² Department of Defence Science and Technology, Chemical and Biological Defence MSTC, Land Division, Melbourne, Victoria 3089, Australia.
³ Deakin University, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, and Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM), Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia. Electronic address: c.hogan@latrobe.edu.au.

PMID: 35390667
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2022.108107

Abstract

A powerful, yet low-cost and semi-portable electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensing device is described. It is constructed around a Raspberry Pi single-board computer, which serves as the controller and user interface. The Pi is interfaced with an expansion board that controls the potential applied to a disposable screen-printed electrode and facilitates data acquisition from a photomultiplier tube (PMT), which detects the ECL emission from the sensor surface. As proof-of-concept, we demonstrate that this arrangement can quantitate tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) ([Ru(bpy)₃]²⁺]) with an estimated limit of detection (LOD) of 20 pM, and C-reactive protein with an LOD of 50 fg mL^-1. The analytical performance of the Raspberry Pi-based setup is comparable to a conventional ECL configuration (computer, potentiostat and photodetector). The Raspberry Pi-based setup can replace a conventional ECL setup, at a fraction of the cost, without sacrificing sensitivity or versatility. The combination of a single-board computer and a sensitive light detector represents a significant step towards translating ECL instruments into mobile, point-of-care diagnostic platforms.

Keywords: C-reactive protein; Electrochemiluminescence; Immunoassay; Point-of-care; Raspberry Pi.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
Electrochemical Techniques
Electrodes
Immunoassay
Limit of Detection
Luminescent Measurements*