Double positive effect of adding hexaethyelene glycol when optimizing the hybridization efficiency of a microring DNA detection assay

In this paper, a method for detection of DNA molecules using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microring resonators is described. The influence of temperature and the use of formamide on the hybridization efficiency were studied. It was shown that 50 v/v% of formamide in the hybridization buffer can ensure hybridization when working close to physiological temperature. Furthermore, the use of hexaethylene glycol (HEG) as backfilling agent was studied in order to resolve issues of non-specific adsorption to the surface. The results indicated that not only non-specific binding was reduced significantly but also that HEG improves the orientation of the DNA probes on the surface. This led to a 4-fold increase in hybridization efficiency and thus in an equal decrease in the detection limit, compared to hybridization without the use of HEG. An improvement in robustness of the assay was also observed. This DNA reorientation hypothesis was confirmed by studying the thickness and density of the layers by using dual polarization microring sensing. Finally, the different steps in the sensing experiment were characterized in more detail by static contact angle (SCA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The results showed quantitatively that the surface modifications were successful. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.

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