Electrical detection of kidney injury molecule-1 with AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were used to detect kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), an important biomarker for early kidney injury detection. The gate region consisted of 5 nm gold deposited onto the AlGaN surface. The gold was conjugated to highly specific KIM-1 antibodies through a self-assembled monolayer of thioglycolic acid. The HEMT source-drain current showed a clear dependence on the KIM-1 concentration in phosphate-buffered saline solution. The limit of detection was 1 ng/ml using a 20x50 μm2 gate sensing area. This approach shows potential for both preclinical and clinical kidney injury diagnosis with accurate, rapid, noninvasive, and high throughput capabilities