Piezoelectric ceramic sensor and sensor array for detection of molecular makers

Abstract

A sensor is provided for the detection of a marker in a sample in which the sensor includes a high frequency 500 kHz-1 GHz piezoelectric ceramic resonator, with the system measuring resonant frequency change. In one embodiment, the piezoelectric sensor operates in the thickness extensional (TE) mode, with the high frequency and TE mode permitting fabrication of an exceptionally small size sensor capable of being arrayed in a handheld unit.

1 . A sensor for detection of a marker in a sample comprising:
 a piezoelectric resonator sensor operating in the thickness extensional mode and having a frequency range of 500 kHz-1 GHz;   a source for applying an oscillating electric field across said sensor;   a sample loading cartridge;   a sample at said sensor;   a circuit for measuring the resonant frequency change of said sensor as a result of said sample being placed at said sensor, and,   A computational system communicably connected to the said sensor, said computational system gives reading on the marker amount that correlates to the normal marker amount in said sample.   
   
   
       2 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said piezoelectric sensor operates in the thickness extensional mode. 
   
   
       3 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said sensor includes array of said piezoelectric resonators, said resonators aligned and separated by a gap, one of said resonators being a reference resonator and the other of said resonators having a coating layer on an electrode surface thereof adapted to capture a molecule in said sample for simultaneous detection of multiple markers. 
   
   
       4 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said ceramic resonator is a high frequency synthetic polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramic includes lead titanate zirconate with gold electrode and operates in thickness extension mode. 
   
   
       5 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said sensor has a surface coated with capture molecules for markers. 
   
   
       6 . The sensor of  claim 5 , and further including a recorder for recording the binding interaction between the capture molecule and the marker, and wherein said measuring circuit includes a processor for correlating the measured marker frequency differential to the default standard concentration in said sample. 
   
   
       7 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said samples are taken from the group consisting of blood, serum, plasma, urine non-organic solutions and gas. 
   
   
       8 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said samples are used for the group of analyses consisting of disease diagnosis, food analysis, environmental pollution analysis and biodefense. 
   
   
       9 . The sensor of  claim 5 , and further including a sample loading cartridge and a computation system for monitoring marker levels in said samples, wherein the sample loading cartridge consists of a sample introduction setup for the group of setups consisting of a direct sample application setup, a sample addition strip and a microfluidic sample introduction setup. 
   
   
       10 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said sample has molecules captured by capturing molecules on a surface of said sensor and wherein the binding interaction between a capturing molecule and a marker is measured in terms of resonance frequency shift. 
   
   
       11 . The sensor of  claim 5 , wherein said circuit measures the resonance frequency change before and after sample application, said resonance frequency change correlated to the mass of the marker being captured by the capture molecule on said ceramic resonator surface. 
   
   
       12 . The sensor of  claim 11 , wherein said source applies an oscillating electric field across said sensor and wherein said circuit measures at least one resonance frequency of said sensor as the pre-sample application resonance frequency and wherein, after providing the sample and incubating for interaction of the capture molecule and the marker and after applying said oscillating electric field across said sensor, at least one resonance frequency of the sensor is measured as the post-sample resonance frequency, whereby said circuit correlates the frequency change before and after sample application to said sensor to surface mass and/or surface density, whereby the surface mass and/or surface density is correlated with the amount of marker bound by the capture molecule. 
   
   
       13 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the mass change represented by resonant frequency is correlated to a default standard mass range. 
   
   
       14 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein said sensor is mounted on a printed circuit board and wherein said frequency source includes an oscillator.