Real-timely monitoring the interaction between bovine serum albumin and drugs in aqueous with terahertz metamaterial biosensor

In this paper, a metamaterial (MM) resonator used as a sensitive biosensor is designed and fabricated for monitoring the interaction between bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution and four kinds of drug solutions in real time. The transmission spectra of the resonator are simulated and measured with terahertz time-domain spectroscopy system where the distinct resonance frequency shifts are observed. The experimental results indicate that the interactions between BSA and every kind of solution are violent before the reaction reaches equilibrium, and the reaction solutions manifest varying permittivity. Moreover, different reaction solutions show different frequency shifts and reaction times. The MM resonator worked as an effective biosensor achieves to monitor the interaction between BSA and drug solutions in real time, which is very useful for the development of novel drugs and other biomedical applications.