Low-cost and flexible VEGF sensors based on microfluidic induced tunable graphene films

The monitoring and controlling of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGC) are very important in the treatment of certain cancers and age-related macular degeneration. Herein, microfluidic based method was introduced to generate low-cost flexible VEGF graphene biosensors, demonstrating tunable thickness of graphene composites different from the conventional graphene composites in chemical detection. After alternating the surface wetting ability, a PDMS based microfluidic system duplicated from a silicon mold was used to introduce, confine and pattern the graphene films. This microfluidic induced graphene biosensor modified with the anti-VEGF antibody from Mayo Clinic is capable of detecting VEGF as low as 1 pg/mL. A promising technique be presented to develop the low-cost and high-performance biosensors for the VEGF detection.