Journal Pone 0263738
Journal Pone 0263738
Journal Pone 0263738
RESEARCH ARTICLE
1 Department of Medicine, Biotechnology Research Group, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia,
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rational Use of Energy and Preservation of the Environment
a1111111111 Group (UREMA), Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia, 3 GNano–Nanomedicine and
a1111111111 Nanotoxicology Group, São Carlos Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo,
a1111111111 Brazil
a1111111111
a1111111111 ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work.
* [email protected]
Abstract
OPEN ACCESS
Citation: Burgos-Flórez F, Rodrı́guez A, Cervera E, Point-of-Care (POC) testing for biomarker detection demands techniques that are easy to
Zucolotto V, Sanjuán M, Villalba PJ (2022) use, readily available, low-cost, and with rapid response times. This paper describes the
TBISTAT: An open-source, wireless portable, development of a fully open-source, modular, wireless, battery-powered, smartphone-con-
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy capable
trolled, low-cost potentiostat capable of conducting electrochemical impedance spectros-
potentiostat for the point-of-care detection of
S100B in plasma samples. PLoS ONE 17(2): copy for the electrochemical detection of the S100B protein captured in an ANTI-S100B
e0263738. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. functionalized thin-film gold interdigitated electrode platform to support traumatic brain injury
pone.0263738 diagnosis and treatment. EIS results from the developed potentiostat were validated with a
Editor: Kalisadhan Mukherjee, Pandit Deendayal commercial benchtop potentiostat by comparing impedance magnitude and phase values
Petroleum University, India, INDIA along the EIS frequency range. In addition, an experimental design was performed for
Received: August 24, 2021 detecting S100B in spiked human plasma samples with S100B concentrations of clinical util-
Accepted: January 25, 2022 ity, and a calibration curve was found for quantifying S100B detection. No statistically signifi-
cant differences were found between EIS results from the developed potentiostat and the
Published: February 7, 2022
commercial potentiostat. Statistically significant differences in the changes in charge trans-
Copyright: © 2022 Burgos-Flórez et al. This is an
fer resistance signal between each tested S100B concentration (p < 0.05) were found, with
open access article distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution License, which a limit of detection of 35.73 pg/mL. The modularity of the proposed potentiostat allows easier
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and component changes according to the application demands in power, frequency excitation
reproduction in any medium, provided the original ranges, wireless communication protocol, signal amplification and transduction, precision,
author and source are credited.
and sampling frequency of ADC, among others, when compared to state-of-the-art open-
Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are source EIS potentiostats. In addition, the use of minimal, easy acquirable open-source hard-
within the paper and its Supporting Information
files.
ware and software, high-level filtering, accurate ADC, Fast Fourier Transform with low spec-
tral leakage, wireless communication, and the simple user interface provides a framework
Funding: This work was funded by Departamento
Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnologı́a e Innovación
for facilitating EIS analysis and developing new affordable instrumentation for POC biosen-
(COLCIENCIAS) grant number 757–2016 (FB) and sors integrated systems.
by Gobernación del Atlántico call number 809–
2018 (AR). The funders had no role in study
Table 1. Feature comparison of literature reviewed potentiostats with the proposed device.
Reference EIS 2–3 Electrode Android Independent Wireless Windows/ Linux Fully documented open-source
Systems integration Impedance circuit Integration hardware and software
Punter-Villagrasa ✓ ✓ × × × ✓ ×
(2014) [28]
Zhang (2016) [27] ✓ ✓ ✓ × ✓ × ×
Pruna (2017) [26] ✓ × × × × ✓ ×
Ainla (2018) UWED × ✓ × × ✓ × ×
[24]
Jiang (2019) [12] ✓ ✓ × ✓ × ✓ ×
Jenkins (2019) ✓ ✓ ✓ × ✓ × ✓
ABE-Stat [22]
Proposed device ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ × ✓
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electrode, mainly given by the number of antigen-antibody bonds formed after the sample is
applied. Therefore, increasing the device’s precision for its use in affinity biosensors such as
the one employed in this work is necessary.
For the above reasons, this paper describes the development of a fully open-source modular,
low-cost, portable potentiostat capable of performing EIS for the electrochemical detection
and quantification of the S100B protein biomarker captured in a two-electrode platform,
referred to from now on as TBISTAT. The overall design approach is inspired by the compo-
nent selection, layout, and firmware design of Ainla [24] and Jenkins [22]. However, the design
has been made modular to allow easy component changes according to the application
demands in power, frequency excitation ranges, wireless communication protocol, signal
amplification and transduction, precision, and sampling frequency of analog digital conver-
sion (ADC), among others. TBISTAT features an independent impedance analyzer circuit,
using the AD5933 as only a signal generator with a programmable external clock, and can be
interfaced with both classic Bluetooth and BLE modules. In addition, the true 12-bit inbuilt
ADC of its MCU and active hardware and digital filter reduces current variance during ADC.
TBISTAT is also controlled by an Android smartphone application that performs a 1000-point
real Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of a non-integer number of cycles over sample periods to
achieve low-spectral leakage transformation for logarithmic frequency points.
The TBISTAT functionality is assessed and validated by conducting EIS on three experi-
mental systems: An AUTOLAB dummy cell circuit composed of a 100 O resistor in series with
the parallel circuit of a 1μF ceramic capacitor and a 1 KO resistor; Bare thin-film gold interdig-
itated electrodes (AUIDEs) drop casted with 10uL of 10mM K3[Fe(CN)6] in 0.2M KCl solu-
tion; ANTI-S100B functionalized thin-film AUIDEs exposed to 316 pg/ml of S100B spiked
human plasma samples, and drop casted with 10uL of 10mM K3[Fe(CN)6] in 0.2M KCl as
support solution. EIS results from the developed potentiostat were validated with an Autolab/
M204 benchtop potentiostat by comparing impedance magnitude and phase values along the
EIS frequency range and through a T-test that compared means of changes in capacitance val-
ues (ΔC) using single frequency analysis (SFA). In addition, an experimental design was per-
formed for detecting S100B in spiked human plasma samples with S100B concentrations of
clinical utility (31pg/mL, 100 pg/mL, and 316pg/mL) using the change in charge transfer resis-
tance (ΔRCT) as the response variable. A one-way Welch ANOVA was applied to check for
differences between treatment groups (S100B concentrations), followed by Games-Howell as a
post-hoc test. A regression model (calibration curve) was developed together with a lack of fit
test to determine model adequacy to the response variable.
The use of minimal, modular, easy acquirable open-source hardware and software, together
with high-level filtering, low-cost, accurate ADC, smartphone-executed FFT, adequate analog/
digital ground/power planes, wireless communication, and a simple user interface, makes the
TBISTAT a framework for facilitating EIS analysis for POC applications such as S100B detec-
tion and provides new opportunities for the development of affordable diagnostics, sensors,
and wearable devices. To our knowledge, this is the first portable potentiostat entirely built for
measuring S100B concentration on plasma samples using EIS. The open-source nature of this
work encourages users to optimize this design for their purposes and needs.
Biosensor construction
AUIDEs biosensor construction comprised three consecutive processes: cleaning, self-assem-
bled monolayer (SAM) formation, and surface functionalization (Fig 1). AUIDEs were first
thoroughly cleaned following RCA-1 cleaning protocol by immersion in a 5:1:1 DW, 27%
NH4OH, 30% H2O2 solution for one minute, and then generously rinsed with DW and dried
using N₂. An EIS essay was performed in potassium ferrocyanide to assess the cleaning effi-
ciency of AUIDEs working surface, which were again rinsed with DW and dried using N₂. For
the SAM formation, ten microliters of 0.5M cysteamine in PBS were drop-casted on the
AUIDEs WE surface and left covered at room temperature (RT) for one hour on a rotary
machine to improve Au-cysteamine molecular interactions. AUIDEs were then rinsed with
DW and dried using N₂. Subsequently, a solution of 0.5 M EDC in 10mM PBS (pH 7.4) with
anti-S100B at 50ug/ml was prepared and vortex mixed every 15 minutes during two hours at
RT for anti-S100B carboxyl group activation. The zero-length cross-linking functionalization
of anti-S100B on cysteamine-modified AUIDEs was performed by drop-casting ten microliters
of the EDC-anti-S100B solution on the AUIDE WEs surface, which were then left covered at
RT for 12 hours on a rotary machine for anti-S100B conjugation to the Au-cysteamine SAM.
Electrodes were then carefully rinsed with DW and dried using N₂. An EIS scan was then per-
formed with potassium ferrocyanide to characterize the electrochemical behavior of the func-
tionalized WEs. AUIDEs WEs were then blocked with 10 microliters of 0.5% BSA in 10 mM
PBS and left covered at RT overnight on a rotary machine. Electrodes were then thoroughly
Fig 1. Graphical representation of the covalent immobilization of anti-S100B onto AUIDEs using a cysteamine/EDC approach.
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rinsed with DW and dried using N₂ at RT, and an EIS was done in potassium ferrocyanide to
set a single reference RCT baseline for each AUIDE. Small reagent concentrations were used
in this work to reduce manufacturing costs. In addition, to avoid undesirable fixation of
reagents to the recipient walls, low retention tips and tubes were used to dilute, aliquot, and
drop-casting antibodies and crosslinker molecules during functionalization and further S100B
tests.
Hardware design
LiPo battery boost, charger, protection circuit module. A 3.7 V, 1000 mAh lithium-ion
polymer battery (LiPo) was used as a power supply for the BM and MCU. The PC is powered
by a 3.3 V low-dropout regulator (LDO) inherent to the MCU. Considering that the MCU and
BM require a 5 V voltage supply and that LiPo batteries are rechargeable and have a significant
risk of igniting if a short circuit happens, a boost, USB charger, short-circuit protection circuit
was employed to fulfill these purposes. Additional details are found in S1 File.
Wireless communication with Bluetooth module. The TBISTAT communicates with a
smartphone or a tablet using either the wireless BLE protocol or B2.0. A host program in the
smartphone receives the input parameters of the experiment from the user, communicates the
experimental protocol to the TBISTAT, receives the raw data (ADC) of the EIS measurement,
and visualizes it for the user in a real-time Nyquist plot. The modules HC06 and HM-10 were
used for performing wireless communication between TBISTAT and a smartphone.
Communication between BMs and MCU is done using the universal asynchronous
receiver/transmitter (UART) interface, which is a block of circuitry responsible for imple-
menting serial communication using two channels, one for transmission (Tx) and one for
reception (Rx). Both modules permit serial transfer as high as 115200 Bauds. Additional details
about the BMs technical specifications are found in S1 File.
MCU. A Teensy LC MCU was employed as the control unit for the developed potentio-
stat. This MCU features an ARM Cortex-M0+ processor at 48 MHz, 62K Flash, 8K RAM,
12-bit analog input & output, hardware Serial, 400 KHz I2C, USB, and a total of 27 Input-out-
put (IO) pins. Teensy LC flash memory programming is achieved by the Teensy Loader appli-
cation, which is compatible with the popular open-source Arduino IDE. Hence, code can be
written and compiled in Arduino and automatically uploaded using the Teensy loader applica-
tion, requiring only a USB connection between the MCU and a computer.
Fig 3. Potentiostat circuit with TIA circuit. Analog switches (MAX4641 and ADG704) are controlled by Teensy LC (not shown) and isolate the
electrochemical cell. The TIA gain is controlled by one of four resistors selected by the ADG704 switch.
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Teensy LC processor speed and 12-bit ADC allows interrupt-driven ADC with sampling
rates as high as 200 KHz, greatly surpassing the sampling criterion defined in the Nyquist–
Shannon sampling theorem for a 10 KHz signal [29]. In addition, the presence of multiple Dig-
ital IOs and fast UART allows controlling multiple analog switches and fast serial transfer. The
8K RAM allows allocation of up to 2000 unsigned 16-bits integers for each EIS frequency mea-
surement point for sufficient FFT frequency resolution [30]. I2C communication is employed
for controlling the SI5351 clock generator IC and the direct digital synthesizer (DDS) AD5933
IC. The former capabilities are not fully met by Ainla et al. RFDUINO MCU [24] or Jenkins
et al. ESP12S MCU [22] without including additional ICs (like peripheral ADC IC or addition
I/O ports for ESP12S, or MCU change for higher processor speeds (RFDUINO)) which
increase manufacturing costs and device size. The circuit schematics and design description of
the MCU module board are found in S1 File.
Digital-analog front-end potentiostat circuit. Fig 3 shows an overall circuit schematic of
the PC. The digital-analog front-end circuit comprises three modules: The AC excitation sig-
nal design module made up of the clock generator IC, the DDS, and the signal conditioning
circuit; The PC module made up of analog switch ICs, TIA circuit, and signal filtering circuit;
and the mixed-signal grounding module.
The generation of an AC signal from DC voltage sources relies on the adequate use of a
DDS IC. Similar to previous studies [22, 27], The TBISTAT employs the AD5933 network ana-
lyzer IC, which consists of a 27-bit direct digital synthesis (DDS) sine excitation voltage
whose output voltage amplitude is controlled by one of four resistors selected by the analog
multiplexer ADG704 IC. Similar to the high-pass filter circuit used in the AC excitation signal
design module, a 3.3/2 V VGV is fixed on the positive input of the TIA via a simple voltage
divider circuit. This circuit ensures low DC bias between the input excitation signal and output
voltage of the TIA, which is a sufficient condition for EIS of the ANTI-S100B functionalized
AUIDEs to detect S100B, as seen in Rodriguez et al. [38]. The TIA voltage signal passes
through a fourth-order 10 KHz SKLPF for high-frequency noise filtering using an LMP7702
OAMP IC. The cutoff frequency is determined following the EIS measurement specifications
established by Rodrı́guez et al. [38] for S100B detection, and the ADC conversion is performed
using the MCU ADC. Additional details about the PC design are found in S1 File.
Software design
An Android application was developed to interface with the MCU firmware over either B2.0
or BLE protocols. The used libraries have GNU General Public License v3, which permits
unrestricted use for software development.
Using the firmware developed for RFDUINO by Ainla et al. [24] as a reference, the Teensy
LC main loop is equipped to listen, interpret, and execute the commands sent by the smart-
phone in the string format. The MCU serial module receives serial commands in the above
format from the Android application for setting AD5933 external clock frequency, number of
FFT points to acquire, TIA gain resistance, DDS word for AC excitation, sampling frequency,
and initializing EIS scans.
The user interface of the Android application comprises only two buttons (connect and
start), a checkbox for calibration, and a text input space for selecting calibration resistance
value. The user initially presses the connect button to establish a Bluetooth connection
between the smartphone and the BM connected to the MCU. When the start button is pressed,
the smartphone configures MCU for EIS and starts measuring each frequency point. If the Cal-
ibration checkbox is checked before pressing start, the user must input a number correspond-
ing to the calibration resistance to be used. Then, the smartphone performs calibration of
system phase and magnitude for each EIS frequency for the defined calibration resistance.
When data coming from BM is received, an FFT is performed. If the user is performing cali-
bration, the magnitude and phase are stored on an excel file. If the user is performing a con-
ventional measurement to detect the S100B biomarker, a Nyquist plot is displayed in real-time
as FFT on each EOC received data is performed. Once EIS is finished, ΔRCT of the EIS is cal-
culated for finding S100B concentration, which is shown together with TBI diagnosis support
information. Additional details of the software implementation of the EIS measurements are
discussed in S2 File, while source code for MCU firmware and Android Studio application
files can be found in S3 File.
Prototype fabrication
Circuit schematics and printed circuit board (PCB) designs were made in the free web-based
electronic design automation (EDA) suite EasyEDA. The PCB designs can be found in S1 File.
PCB fabrication was done by JLCPCB (China) upon sending the Gerber files of each designed
PCB. Gerber files and schematics can be found in S4 File.
A surface mount technology (SMT) screen printing stencil was also ordered from JLCPCB
for each PCB. Circuit components were acquired from Digikey (USA), LCSC (China), and
AliExpress (China). PCB passive components assembly was performed via manual soldering,
while ICs were soldered by screen printing liquid solder using the provided SMT stencils, fol-
lowed by heating with a temperature-controlled hot air gun of a VIVO HOME 892D solder
rework station (USA). The bill of materials (BOM) for each PCB is found in S4 File.
Electrical characterization
Power requirements. Power consumption was estimated by measuring current draw
from a fully charged (3.7 V) 1000 mAh LiPo battery using a Fluke 117 handheld multimeter
(USA) for both standby and active EIS measurements of a 100 Ω resistor connected between
the working and counter/reference electrodes in a two-electrode configuration.
Electrical noise. TBISTAT noise was evaluated by performing continuous EIS scans on
500O, 5 KO, and 15 KO resistors in a two-electrode configuration perturbed with 10 Hz, 100
Hz, 1000 Hz, and 10000 Hz 10 mV amplitude AC excitation voltages. EOC noise was estimated
as the root mean squared error (RMSE) values for 100 observations recorded using the 10 KO,
100 KO and 1 MO TIA resistors, with the appropriate sampling frequency for each defined sig-
nal input frequency to decrease spectral leakage during FFT, and using the 12-bits default
ADC resolution of the Teensy LC. RMS current noise is given by:
FFT magnitude:VSS
IRMS ½nA� ¼ ð1Þ
ADCres:TIAR
Where VSS is the 3.3 VDC voltage source powering the PC, ADCres corresponds to the
ADC resolution equal to 4096, and TIAR refers to the value in Ohms of the TIA resistance (10
KΩ, 100 KΩ or 1 MΩ).
System validation
TBISTAT was employed for performing EIS on three experimental systems: An AUTOLAB
dummy cell circuit composed of a 100 Ω resistor in series with the parallel circuit of a 1μF
ceramic capacitor and a 1 KΩ resistor; bare thin-film AUIDEs drop casted with 10uL of 10mM
K3[Fe(CN)6] in 0.2M KCl solution; ANTI-S100B functionalized thin-film AUIDEs exposed to
316 pg/ml of S100B spiked human plasma samples, and drop casted with 10uL of 10mM K3
[Fe(CN)6] in 0.2M KCl as support solution.
Validation was done using two methods: Visual comparison of impedance magnitude and
phase responses along the EIS frequency range obtained by TBISAT and an Autolab/M204
benchtop potentiostat/galvanostat (Metrohm1) equipped with an Autolab1 FRA32 module
controlled by the NOVA 2.11 software, and a T-test statistical comparison between ΔC results
at f = 31.6 Hz obtained by TBISAT and the benchtop potentiostat. Capacitance was obtained
from EIS scans following the method described by Rodriguez et al. [38]. The statistical analysis
was done using Statgraphics Centurion 18. The assumptions of normality, homoscedasticity,
and independence of residuals were assessed to establish the statistical validity of the T-test. All
statistical tests were considered significant with a p-value lower than 0.05.
A statistical analysis was done using Statgraphics Centurion 19. Initially, the assumptions of
normality, homoscedasticity, and independence of residuals were assessed to establish statisti-
cal validity graphically and analytically. A one-way Welch ANOVA was applied to check for
differences between treatment groups (S100B concentrations), followed by Games-Howell as a
post-hoc test. A regression model (calibration curve) was developed together with a lack of fit
test to determine model adequacy to the response variable. Model suitability was established
considering global model significance, coefficients significance, and analysis of residuals struc-
ture. All statistical tests were considered significant with a p-value lower than 0.05.
The limit of detection (LOD) was determined by Eq 2, as follows:
3:3 SD
LOD ¼ ð2Þ
m
where SD is the average standard deviation of the response, and m is the calibration sensitivity,
determined by the slope of the calibration curve.
Results
Fabrication
Fig 4 shows the fabricated hardware modules connected for EIS measurements and the devel-
oped Android application running on an Android 7.1 OnePlus 5T smartphone. The hardware
occupies 72 cm2 and 216 cm3 when extended on a planar surface, as seen in Fig 4. Significant
reductions in device volume can be achieved by positioning each PCB on top of each other.
Power requirements
Table 2 shows the current draw of TBISTAT for continuous use in standby mode and during
EIS using a 1000 mAh LiPo battery as energy source. Battery life can last up to 11 hours of con-
tinuous EIS scans with a 100 O resistor as measured impedance. Higher duration can be
achieved using a 2000 mAh LiPo battery, which should last for at least 22 hours of continuous
EIS measurements.
Electrical noise
TBISTAT current noise stayed between 0.3 nA and 130 nA for the range of frequencies and
impedances used (Fig 5). The noise was higher in low frequency-low impedance EIS scans and
remained below 10 nA at higher frequencies and higher TIA resistors values. TBISTAT noise
levels were comparable to those reported by Jenkins et al. [22], even though teensy LC has 8
bits less nominal ADC resolution than the 24-bit ADC used by the former. The noise values
presented on TBISTAT could be explained by the use of hardware (Sallen-Key) and software
filters (five-point median filter) and a highly precise impedance measurement device with low
spectral leakage given by accurate frequency resolution definition and a 1000-point FFT.
Fig 4. Components of TBISTAT connected for EIS measurement on an AUIDE cell. LiPo battery and boost circuit (bottom left) powers the MCU through
two cables (red 5 V, black ground). The BM is connected to the MCU (top left) using four-pin male-female headers. The MCU is connected to the PC through
ten cables (two for 3.3 V and ground (red and black), two for I2C communication (SDA purple, SCL white), one for ADC (yellow), and five for Analog switches
and TIA resistance multiplexer (blue)). A card reader (top right) is connected to the electrochemical cell female header connector (bottom right of PC). The
smartphone is shown running the TBISTAT application.
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Fig 5. Current noise of TBISTAT for the 10–10000 Hz bandwidth and 10 KΩ-1MΩ TIA gain resistors.
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were reasonably close to the reference instrument (less than 2% differences). Higher variations
in phase values were found in lower frequencies (less than 10 Hz), which resulted in marked
differences with the reference instrument. Nevertheless, the TBISTAT employed calibration
strategy successfully prevented discontinuities in impedance measurements when the TIA
resistor was increased.
Fig 6. EIS magnitude and phase plots for TBISTAT and reference instrument for dummy cell excitation.
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Fig 7. EIS magnitude and phase plots for TBISTAT and reference instrument for measurements in 10mM K3[Fe(CN)6] in 0.2M KCl solution.
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Fig 8. EIS magnitude and phase plots for TBISTAT and reference instrument in ANTI-S100B functionalized thin-film AUIDEs exposed to 316 pg/ml of
S100B spiked human plasma samples.
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Fig 9. Nyquist plot comparisons of TBISTAT and reference instrument in detecting S100B in an ANTI-S100B functionalized thin-film AUIDEs exposed
to 316 pg/ml of S100B spiked human plasma sample.
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A T-test was carried out between the capacitance results obtained with TBISTAT and the
reference instrument (Table 3). Both standardized skewness and kurtosis values were within
the (-2,2) range, so samples could be considered to come from normal distributions. No signif-
icant differences were found in the sample variances using Levene’s test, and no structure was
found in the residual plot. Considering that the T-test p-value was higher than 0.05, the null
hypothesis could not be rejected. Thus, there was no statistically significant difference between
Fig 10. Nyquist plots of AUIDEs experimental results in spiked human plasma samples for the quantification of S100B in the 31–316 pg/mL range.
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the means of the two samples. Additional information regarding the results of the statistical
analysis for potentiostat validation can be found in S7 File.
Fig 11. Calibration curve for S100B in spiked human plasma using AUIDEs. y = ΔRCT; x = [S100B] (pg/mL).
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residuals, and the lack of fit test was not significant. The LOD obtained for AUIDEs was 35.73
pg/mL. The statistical test results are found in S7 File.
Discussion
This work has developed an open-source EIS-capable portable potentiostat controlled by a
wirelessly interfaced Android application that detects and quantifies the concentration of the
S100B TBI biomarker from plasma samples in clinically relevant conditions. Previous work
from Jenkins et al. [22], Ainla et al. [24], and Pruna et al. [26] has laid a solid foundation in the
understanding of the intricacies and possibilities in terms of building a portable, wireless
potentiostat prototype that is affordable and easy to adapt to a wide range of applications con-
cerned with the detection of an analyte of interest.
Fig 12. Brain injury support information after the EIS test.
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Apart from Jenkins ABE-Stat, to our knowledge, the TBISTAT is the only other portable,
wireless, open-source potentiostat capable of conducting EIS measurements. The TBISTAT
circuit components and PCB fabrication can be acquired for less than 80 USD for one unit,
comparable to the 105 USD cost of Jenkins ABE-Stat. Circuit components suppliers and pack-
aging have been carefully chosen to allow fast acquisition and easy PCB assembly using stan-
dard soldering techniques with a hot iron and a soldering rework station. In addition, the
circuit schematics, Gerber files, BOMs, operation videos, calibration files, MCU firmware, and
Android application project have been made freely available for download without demanding
any usage permits. Software and hardware development interfaces such as Arduino IDE,
Android Studio, and EasyEDA allow rapid setup, circumventing the need for costly licenses
and allowing complete access to every aspect of the prototype design and fabrication.
Even though the TBISTAT was designed to detect S100B, several improvements of previous
works have been attained to provide more robust and precise impedance measurements.
While the TBISTAT was not designed to be a general-purpose potentiostat, configured to per-
form voltammetric assays and user-defined DC-biased EIS scans as Jenkins et al. ABE-Stat, its
performance has been increased in the 1-10KHz, 100–35 KO ranges when compared to the
former. The Teensy LC MCU employed in the TBISTAT possesses a higher number of GPIOs
than Jenkins ABE-Stat ESP8266. In addition, the Teensy LC true 12-bit ADC allows interrupt-
driven ADC with sampling rates as high as 200 KHz, thus avoiding the use of leakage-prone
AD5933 single-point DFT [37]. Jenkins et al. employed a 24-point DFT for excitation frequen-
cies below 60 HZ using a DAC software-programmed AC excitation signal, a variation which
was thought to result in significant discontinuities in impedance measurements at 2 Hz, 60
Hz, and 2 kHz using ABE-Stat, especially when the current signal was not a perfect sinusoid.
The TBISTAT improves the design of Jenkin’s impedance analyzer by utilizing its own imped-
ance analyzer circuit and a customized 1000-points FFT programmed in the Android applica-
tion. The accurate sampling frequency definition in the Android application of the TBISTAT
allows a fully customizable FFT frequency resolution for logarithmically spaced AC excitation
signal frequency points, significantly reducing FFT spectral leakage and avoiding the use of
windowing techniques before or after FFT. Furthermore, impedance measurement disconti-
nuities when the TIA resistor changes as impedance increases are reduced using the same cali-
bration resistors at the frequency range limits. In addition, the presence of a fourth-pole Sallen
key LPF reduces the amplitude and duration of the perturbation, which in turn decreases the
overall impact of this event on the electrochemical equilibrium of the AUIDE cell.
S100B detection using TBISTAT and AUIDEs biosensor platform exhibited an acceptable
global performance in terms of stability and reproducibility. Given the higher steric hindrance
due to the anti-S100B and S100B protein interaction as S100B concentration increased and the
electrostatic repulsive forces between the S100B and negatively charged redox species in sup-
port solution (10mM K3[Fe(CN)6] in 0.2M KCl) [39], a proportional increment was consis-
tently observed in the RCT to the successive increments in S100B concentration.
The use of AUIDEs with portable potentiostat such as TBISTAT offers various advantages
to facilitate further industrial development and commercialization of POCT devices. First, a
simple cleaning protocol (RCA-1) before functionalization is feasible for AUIDEs, avoiding
expensive reagents and considerably reducing the time required. Secondly, AUIDEs possess a
small planar detection area, which allows smaller cell volumes, thus reducing the quantity of
antibody solution needed for biosensor functionalization without a negative impact on the
biosensor performance. In third place, AUIDEs electrodes do not require a reference electrode
for analyte detection during impedance measurements, making the further development of a
POC system easier, with fewer operational amplifiers needed in the instrument.
Even though other studies report a wider range of detection and lower LODs for S100B
[40–42], this work demonstrates an effective detection of S100B in a clinically relevant range
since plasmatic S100B concentrations lower than a cutoff of 100pg/mL [9] ruled out the pres-
ence of bleeding in the CT, while levels below 30pg/mL ruled out BBB disruption [10]. Fur-
thermore, many of the sensors found in the literature exhibit limitations for a fast analysis due
to the requirement of sandwich-type immunoassays and fluorescent labels. Label-free and sim-
ple functionalization chemistry are valuable features of our biosensor, which provides a prom-
ising alternative for the fast analysis of biomarkers, even for very small sample volumes.
One simple but important contribution of TBISTAT is the methods it uses to quantify
S100B concentration from EIS scans in the AUIDEs biosensor platform. After EIS is done,
S100B concentration is calculated using the RCT obtained as the intercept at y = 0 of a three-
point regression model from the lower frequency EIS scan, which is then used as input for cal-
culating ΔRCT and S100B with the regression model. In this way, no electrochemical circle fit
is needed, and the S100B concentration estimate defines TBI support information for patient
diagnosis and treatment.
Limitations
Various limitations should be described for users interested in using the proposed prototype
for their specific purposes. Even though S100B detection using AUIDEs did not require chang-
ing DC bias above zero volts, other applications might require such adjustments. A fully pro-
grammable DC bias voltage potentiostat using the Teensy LC 12-bits DAC together with a
fourth-pole Sallen-Key LPF such as the one designed by Ainla et al. [24] for the UWED is cur-
rently being developed.
The TBISTAT can only be used in the 1Hz-10KHz frequency range to measure impedances
between 100Ω and 35KΩ. Replacing the Teensy LC 48 MHz cortex-M0+ with a 96 MHz cor-
tex-M4 Teensy 3.2 could increase sampling frequency and allow the ADC of higher frequency
signals without incurring any PCB changes. In addition, a 100 KHz Sallen-key LPF could
replace the 10KHz already found on TBISTAT. Higher impedances can be measured by using
the 10 MΩ TIA resistor already found on TBISTAT.
The TBISTAT employs a simple voltage divider circuit for VGV and uses 0.1% tolerance
resistors to achieve a low (less than 5 mV) DC offset between reference and working electrodes.
This value reduces the usable AC voltage span for ADC to less than 500mV, as it induces DC cur-
rents in the TIA in the lower impedance ranges of each TIA gain resistor setting which change
VGV to less than 3.3/2 V. In addition, this circuit is dependent on device voltage supply, which
can have slight variations following LiPo battery discharge. The addition of a 3.3 V high precision
analog voltage reference using an ISL60002 IC and a 3.3 V Rail splitter for analog reference such
as TL2426 IC [22] could be used as an alternative to the VGV circuits employed in the proposed
design to allow a more precise reference voltage for zero DC bias EIS measurements.
Further studies are needed to identify nuisance factors affecting the electrochemical mea-
surements using TBISTAT, such as temperature, humidity, electrical noise, and tests in real
settings beyond the laboratory. Experiments should be carried out at clinical facilities with TBI
patient’s blood for both the biosensor platform and the developed potentiostat at a clinically
relevant range of concentrations of S100B. Moreover, the inability to measure S100B directly
in plasma samples without the need for additional redox probes should be circumvented in
future iterations of the developed biosensor platform so that electrochemical detection can be
made in a non-faradaic manner. More detailed studies are now underway to implement non-
faradaic electrochemical measurements using AUIDEs since the use of a redox solution could
represent a limit for scaling the technology to a marketable stage.
Finally, machine learning algorithms for EIS analysis could support TBI diagnosis and
treatment by using supervised learning in EIS Nyquist plot analysis. This route could pose an
alternate solution to employing an electrochemical circle fit algorithm to find RCT value and
eventually S100B concentration and its correlation to TBI outcomes.
Conclusions
We have described the development and validation of a portable, wireless, open-source poten-
tiostat capable of performing EIS on AUIDEs to detect and quantify S100B in plasma at clini-
cally relevant concentrations. The TBISTAT occupies 216 cm3, weighs 120 g, and has an
approximate manufacturing cost of 80 USD. Its design is built upon the potentiostats made by
Jenkins et al. [22] and Ainla et al. [24], improving accuracy in phase and magnitude measure-
ments and reducing discontinuities in the overall impedance calculations along the 1-10KHz
frequency excitation range and between 100O and 35KO. Source code for MCU firmware and
Android application, Gerber files, schematics, and device operation video of TBISTAT have
been made freely available for download to promote its use, enhancement, and employment in
applications in either medical, animal, food or agroindustry. Furthermore, the modularity of
the design allows easier component changes according to the application demands in power,
frequency excitation ranges, wireless communication protocol, signal amplification and trans-
duction, precision, and sampling frequency of ADC, among others. In addition, the use of
minimal, easy acquirable open-source hardware and software, together with high-level filter-
ing, low-cost, accurate ADC, wireless communication, and the simple user interface, provides
a framework for facilitating EIS analysis for similar POC applications such as the one pre-
sented in this work and for developing affordable diagnostics and POC biosensors integrated
systems. Improvements to the prototype, such as adding a high precision analog voltage refer-
ence and a 3.3 V Rail splitter for analog reference, could increase the device capabilities and
range of possible applications to meet user-specific demands.
Supporting information
S1 File. Hardware considerations. Additional details concerning hardware design, circuit
schematics and PCB design.
(DOCX)
S2 File. Software design. Additional details concerning software design.
(DOCX)
S3 File. MCU firmware and Android application files.
(RAR)
S4 File. BOMs, circuit schematics and Gerber files.
(RAR)
S5 File. TBISTAT calibration file.
(XLS)
S6 File. Video file.
(MP4)
S7 File. Statistical tests and figures.
(DOCX)
S8 File. Configuration values for AC excitation signal and ADC.
(XLSX)
Author Contributions
Conceptualization: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez, Valtencir Zucolotto,
Pedro J. Villalba.
Data curation: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez.
Formal analysis: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez.
Funding acquisition: Valtencir Zucolotto, Marco Sanjuán, Pedro J. Villalba.
Investigation: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez.
Methodology: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez, Marco Sanjuán, Pedro J.
Villalba.
Project administration: Valtencir Zucolotto, Marco Sanjuán, Pedro J. Villalba.
Resources: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez, Valtencir Zucolotto, Marco San-
juán, Pedro J. Villalba.
Software: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez.
Supervision: Valtencir Zucolotto, Marco Sanjuán, Pedro J. Villalba.
Validation: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez, Eliana Cervera.
Visualization: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez, Eliana Cervera.
Writing – original draft: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez, Eliana Cervera.
Writing – review & editing: Francisco Burgos-Flórez, Alexander Rodrı́guez, Eliana Cervera,
Valtencir Zucolotto, Marco Sanjuán, Pedro J. Villalba.
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