Surface-modified microprojection arrays for intradermal biomarker capture, with low non-specific protein binding

Minimally invasive biosensors are of great interest for rapid detection of disease biomarkers for diagnostic screening at the point-of-care. Here we introduce a device which extracts disease-specific biomarkers directly from the upper dermis, without the needle and syringe or resource-intensive blood processing. Using antigen-specific antibodies raised in mice as a model system, we confirm the analytical specificity and sensitivity of the antibody capture and extraction in comparison to the conventional methods based on needle/syringe blood draw followed by processing and antigen-specific ELISAs. Herein we describe a novel microprojection array which samples specific circulating biomarkers in the skin epithelia in a minimally invasive manner.