Sensitive and reusable surface acoustic wave immunosensor for monitoring of airborne mite allergens

Environmental allergens, such as pollens and house dust mite allergens, cause sensitization and lead to allergic diseases, which make people suffer from asthma or rhinitis. These environmental allergens often become airborne in a living space, and residents are endangered to be exposed to and inhale the airborne allergens. Therefore, prevention of the exposure directly connects to prevention of allergic diseases. One of the possible ways to avoid the exposure is monitoring of airborne allergens in a living space and making a resident become aware of the environmental quality. Such a system requires a sensor, and especially with high selectivity along with a sensitivity to the allergens. For this purpose, immunosensors are the candidates due to their high selectivity, which relies on the specificity of an antibody. A challenge to use immunosensors for monitoring is difficulty of sensor surface regeneration-breaking down a formed immunocomplex and removing them from the sensor surface for a next measurement.