A biosensor based on magnetoelastic waves for detection of antibodies in human plasma for COVID-19 serodiagnosis

The study proposes a new efficient wireless biosensor based on magnetoelastic waves for the detection of antibodies in human plasma, aiming at the serological diagnosis of COVID-19. The biosensor was functionalized with the N antigen - nucleocapsid phosphoprotein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Validation analyses, by sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), Western blotting, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), micro-Raman spectroscopy, confirmed the selectivity and effective surface functionalization of the biosensor. The research successfully obtained, expressed and purified the recombinant antigen, while plasma samples from COVID-19 positive and negative patients were used to test the performance of the biosensor. A comparison of performance with the ELISA method revealed equivalent diagnostic power. These results indicate the robustness of the biosensor in reliably differentiating between positive and negative samples, highlighting its potential as an efficient and low-cost tool for the serological diagnosis of COVID-19. In addition to being fast to execute and having the potential for automation in large-scale diagnostic studies, the biosensor fills a significant gap in existing SARS-CoV-2 detection approaches.