Iron deficiency (ID) is the most prevalent and severe nutritional disorder globally and is the leading cause of iron deficiency anemia (IDA). IDA often progresses subtly symptomatic in children, whereas prolonged deficiency may permanently impair development. Early detection and frequent screening are, therefore, essential to avoid the consequences of IDA. In order to reduce the production cost and complexities involved in building advanced ID sensors, the devices were fabricated using a home-built patterning procedure that was developed and used for this work instead of lithography, which allows for fast prototyping of dimensions. In this article, we report the development of graphene-based field-effect transistors (GFETs) functionalized with anti-ferritin antibodies through a linker molecule (1-pyrenebutanoic acid, succinimidyl ester), to facilitate specific conjugation with ferritin antigen. The resulting biosensors feature an unprecedented ferritin detection limit of 10 fM, indicating a tremendous potential for non-invasive (e.g., saliva) ferritin detection.

中文翻译：

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早期发现铁缺乏症的基于石墨烯的生物传感器。

铁缺乏症（ID）是全球最普遍和最严重的营养失调，并且是铁缺乏症贫血（IDA）的主要原因。小儿IDA通常有症状地发展，而长期缺乏则可能永久损害发育。因此，早期检测和频繁筛查对于避免IDA的后果至关重要。为了降低制造高级ID传感器所涉及的生产成本和复杂性，这些设备是使用自制的构图程序制造的，该程序已开发并用于这项工作，而不是使用光刻技术，从而可以快速进行尺寸原型制作。在本文中，我们报告了通过连接子分子（1-吡啶丁酸，琥珀酰亚胺酯）用抗铁蛋白抗体功能化的基于石墨烯的场效应晶体管（GFET）的开发，促进与铁蛋白抗原的特异性结合。最终的生物传感器具有前所未有的10 fM铁蛋白检测极限，这表明非侵入性（例如唾液）铁蛋白检测具有巨大潜力。