Case Study
Nanomedical Diagnostics partners with Rogue Valley Microdevices to bring the world’s first commercial graphene biosensor to scale
How a collaborative MEMS foundry partnership solved the challenge of integrating defect-free graphene into high-volume manufacturing—bringing the label-free Agile R100 binding assay to market.
The world’s first commercial graphene biosensor — a label-free kinetic binding assay.
Transforming drug discovery with a graphene biosensor
Drug discovery today is laborious and costly. To evaluate new drugs, most researchers test candidate compounds on expensive, complex laboratory equipment that demands special training—and testing can take days or weeks.
Biotech company Nanomedical Diagnostics offers an alternative to the resource-intensive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and bio-layer interferometry (BLI) tools generally used today. Its novel sensing technique—featuring the world’s first commercially available graphene biosensor—lets pharmaceutical and biotherapeutics companies characterize biomolecules quickly and easily.
That capability transforms how teams work: researchers gain complete control over the characterization of their molecules, helping them make better decisions earlier in the drug discovery process.
The company’s label-free kinetic binding assay, Agile R100, is built on proprietary Field Effect Biosensing (FEB) technology—an electrical technique rather than an optical one.
Because FEB measures changes in conductance rather than changes in mass, it enables detection in complex samples and of small molecules with no lower size limit—something optical methods struggle to match.
An electrical technique, not an optical one
Agile R100’s intuitive open-well format means any researcher can use it without special training. At a fraction of the cost and size of competitive solutions, it brings molecular characterization within reach of far more labs.
The graphene challenge
Graphene offers excellent electrical conductivity, high surface area, and unique biocompatibility—potentially making it the world’s most versatile material for biosensors. Putting it into volume production is another matter.
Numerous companies have tried to commercialize graphene biosensors at scale, but integrating graphene into standard high-volume production processes has been a challenge that others could not meet. Nanomedical Diagnostics, together with Rogue Valley Microdevices, solved the riddle—overcoming major manufacturing hurdles to bring Agile R100 to market.
Run-of-the-mill graphene can’t be used for biosensors meant to generate highly sensitive results. For that kind of exceptional detection, defect-free graphene is needed—and it is exceptionally difficult to marry the low-cost world of electronics manufacturing with such a groundbreaking material. These challenges made finding the right MEMS foundry partner critical.
Defect-free material
Ordinary graphene won’t do. Highly sensitive results demand a pristine, defect-free lattice throughout the sensing surface.
Two worlds, one process
Marrying the low-cost world of electronics manufacturing with a groundbreaking new material is exceptionally difficult.
Scale, not samples
Lab demonstrations are one thing; integrating graphene growth into a repeatable, large-scale flow is another entirely.
Solving for manufacturability
Traditional MEMS and CMOS fabrication relies on depositing, patterning, and etching well-understood materials. Graphene is still new—so when RVM first looked at depositing other materials on top of it, the process was an unknown.
Nanomedical Diagnostics’ requirements were particularly stringent. Exposure to some standard lithography chemistries was prohibited, and high sensitivity to solvent residue necessitated novel capping and passivation techniques. The company also required a process that would allow the integration of graphene growth to make large-scale manufacturing a reality.
Despite the unknowns, Rogue Valley Microdevices embraced the opportunity—and the two teams developed a viable, repeatable flow together.
Fabricating the Future
Learn more about our ITAR-registered MEMS foundry services at Rogue Valley Microdevices.
Medford, OR 97504
541‑774‑1900
sales@roguevalleymicro.com
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