Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Protocol
  • Published:

Printed photonic crystal biochips for rapid and sensitive detection of biomarkers in various body fluids

Nature Protocols volume 20, pages 3783–3807 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

There is an urgent requirement to improve accessibility to diagnostic tools in remote areas. This requires assays that are easy to use, are cost-effective and produce rapid results. Important public health applications include early disease diagnosis, real-time monitoring, epidemic control and medical cost control. This protocol describes the fabrication of all-printed photonic crystal (PC) biochips for point-of-care testing of biomarkers. The photonic crystal material is prepared by the self-assembly of latex nanospheres that are printed onto a polyethylene terephthalate substrate. Photonic crystals composed of latex nanospheres of different sizes enhance the fluorescent signal emitted at different wavelengths, resulting in remarkably higher detection sensitivity. PC microarrays enable mass-printed preparation (up to 2,700 pieces can be printed per hour by one printer), and each microarray can be stored for a long time (>6 months) after heating. Biomarker specificity is achieved by the biofunctionalization of the nanospheres, for example, attaching capture antibodies. The detection involves the use of a fluorescently labeled detection antibody and a simple point-of-care detection device. This universal approach can be applied to the detection of many biomarkers, and the simultaneous detection of multiple biomarkers is also possible. Here we demonstrate describing how to prepare a chip that can be used to detect three inflammatory biomarkers in 10 min at low sample volumes at a cost of less than 3 CNY (~US$0.41) per PC codetection biochip. The biofunctionalization process including capture antibody coupling and blocking takes 3–4 h, and the detection process takes 20 min.

Key points

  • In this protocol, photonic crystal biochips composed of self-assembled core–shell latex nanospheres printed on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate are functionalized with capture antibodies for the detection of specific biomarkers.

  • The printed biochips are inexpensive, and the biomarkers can be detected in small volumes of biofluids using a simple point-of-care testing device. This approach can be used to produce diagnostic tools for public health applications in remote areas.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The principle of fluorescence enhancement by PCs.
Fig. 2: Schematic of the PC biochip detection process.
Fig. 3: Enrichment of target analytes by the hydrophilic–hydrophobic micropatterns.
Fig. 4: Portable fluorescence detection instrument for PC Biochips.
Fig. 5: Characterization of the PC microarrays.
Fig. 6: Biological characterization and optimization of PC biochips.
Fig. 7: The accuracy and repeatability of multiplexed POCT based on PC biochips.
Fig. 8: Accurate and sensitive detection of biomarkers in saliva, urine and synovial fluid based on PC biochips.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The authors declare that the main data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and previous publications44,45,46,47,48,49. Experimental data are available via Figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28692044 (ref. 60) and https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29117594.v1 (ref. 50).

References

  1. Bodaghi, A., Fattahi, N. & Ramazani, A. Biomarkers: promising and valuable tools towards diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of Covid-19 and other diseases. Heliyon 9, e13323 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Atkinson, A. J. et al. Biomarkers and surrogate endpoints: preferred definitions and conceptual framework. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 69, 89–95 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hartmann, M., Roeraade, J., Stoll, D., Templin, M. & Joos, T. Protein microarrays for diagnostic assays. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 393, 1407–1416 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Yang, J. et al. An integrative review on the applications of 3D printing in the field of in vitro diagnostics. Chin. Chem. Lett. 33, 2231–2242 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Vashist, S. K., Luppa, P. B., Yeo, L. Y., Ozcan, A. & Luong, J. H. T. Emerging technologies for next-generation point-of-care testing. Trends Biotechnol. 33, 692–705 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Luppa, P. B., Müller, C., Schlichtiger, A. & Schlebusch, H. Point-of-care testing (POCT): current techniques and future perspectives. Trends Anal. Chem. 30, 887–898 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Guo, S., Schlecht, W., Li, L. & Dong, W. J. Paper-based cascade cationic isotachophoresis: multiplex detection of cardiac markers. Talanta 205, 120112 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Garms, D. S. D. et al. The role of urinary biomarkers as diagnostic and prognostic predictors of acute kidney injury associated with vancomycin. Front. Pharmacol. 12, 705636 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Sharfstein, J. M., Becker, S. J. & Mello, M. M. Diagnostic testing for the novel coronavirus. JAMA 323, 1437–438 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Yuan, X. et al. Current and perspective diagnostic techniques for COVID-19. ACS Infect. Dis. 6, 1998–2016 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Egilmezer, E. et al. Systematic review of the impact of point-of-care testing for influenza on the outcomes of patients with acute respiratory tract infection. Rev. Med. Virol. 28, e1995 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Allin, K. H. & Nordestgaard, B. G. Elevated C-reactive protein in the diagnosis, prognosis, and cause of cancer. Crit. Rev. Clin. Lab. Sci. 48, 155–170 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Meisner, M. Update on procalcitonin measurements. Ann. Lab. Med. 34, 263–273 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhang, Y., Zhang, J., Sheng, H., Li, H. & Wang, R. Acute phase reactant serum amyloid A in inflammation and other diseases. Adv. Clin. Chem. 90, 25–80 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Chen, Y. T. et al. Review of integrated optical biosensors for point-of-care applications. Biosensors 10, 209 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Kim, S., Chun, H. J., Lee, K. W. & Yoon, H. C. Smartphone-integrated urinary CTX-II immunosensor based on wavelength filtering from chromogenic reaction. Biosens. Bioelectron. 150, 111932 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Xu, L. Z. et al. Optical, electrochemical and electrical (nano)biosensors for detection of exosomes: a comprehensive overview. Biosens. Bioelectron. 161, 112222 (2020).

  18. Parihar, A. et al. Next-generation intelligent MXene-based electrochemical aptasensors for point-of-care cancer diagnostics. Nano-Micro Lett. 14, 100 (2022).

  19. Hang, Y. J., Wang, A. Y. & Wu, N. Q. Plasmonic silver and gold nanoparticles: shape- and structure-modulated plasmonic functionality for point-of-caring sensing, bio-imaging and medical therapy. Chem. Soc. Rev. 53, 2932–2971 (2024).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Jiang, S. Y. et al. A point-of-care testing device utilizing graphene-enhanced fiber optic SPR sensor for real-time detection of infectious. Pathog. Biosens. 13, 1029 (2023).

  21. Wang, H. D., Jian, M. H., Fan, J. W., He, Y. Q. & Wang, Z. X. Scalable synthesis of Au@CeO2 nanozyme for development of colorimetric lateral flow immunochromatographic assay to sensitively detect heart-type fatty acid binding protein. Talanta 273, 125852 (2024).

  22. Hang, Y. J., Boryczka, J. & Wu, N. Q. Visible-light and near-infrared fluorescence and surface-enhanced Raman scattering point-of-care sensing and bio-imaging: a review. Chem. Soc. Rev. 51, 329–375 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Semeniak, D., Cruz, D. F., Chilkoti, A. & Mikkelsen, M. H. Plasmonic fluorescence enhancement in diagnostics for clinical tests at point-of-care: a review of recent technologies. Adv. Mater. 35, 2107986 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Rasheed, S., Ikram, M., Ahmad, D., Abbas, M. N. & Shafique, M. Advancements in colorimetric and fluorescent-based sensing approaches for point-of-care testing in forensic sample analysis. Microchem J. 206, 111438 (2024).

  25. Sauer, U. Analytical protein microarrays: advancements towards clinical applications. Sensors 17, 256 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Liu, Y., Guo, C. X., Hu, W., Lu, Z. & Li, C. M. Sensitive protein microarray synergistically amplified by polymer brush-enhanced immobilizations of both probe and reporter. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 360, 593–599 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Menendez-Miranda, M., Costa-Fernández, J. M., Encinar, J. R., Parak, W. J. & Carrillo-Carrion, C. Determination of the ratio of fluorophore/nanoparticle for fluorescence-labelled nanoparticles. Analyst 141, 1266–1272 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Zhou, S., Yuan, L., Hua, X., Xu, L. & Liu, S. Signal amplification strategies for DNA and protein detection based on polymeric nanocomposites and polymerization: a review. Analytica Chim. Acta 877, 19–32 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Jun, J. V., Chenoweth, D. M. & Petersson, E. J. Rational design of small molecule fluorescent probes for biological applications. Org. Biomol. Chem. 18, 5747–5763 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Michie, M. S. et al. Cyanine conformational restraint in the far-red range. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 12406–12409 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Bassolino, G. et al. Photolabile coumarins with improved efficiency through azetidinyl substitution. Chem. Sci. 9, 387–391 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Hirabayashi, K. et al. Analysis of chemical equilibrium of silicon-substituted fluorescein and its application to develop a scaffold for red fluorescent probes. Anal. Chem. 87, 9061–9069 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Grimm, J. B. et al. A general method to optimize and functionalize red-shifted rhodamine dyes. Nat. Methods 17, 815–821 (2020).

  34. Sungwienwong, I. et al. Improving the fluorescent probe acridonylalanine through a combination of theory and experiment. J. Phys. Org. Chem. 31, e3813 (2018).

  35. Ma, F., Li, C.-c & Zhang, C.-y Development of quantum dot-based biosensors: principles and applications. J. Mat. Chem. B 6, 6173–6190 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Ding, T., Mertens, J., Lombardi, A., Scherman, O. A. & Baumberg, J. J. Light-directed tuning of plasmon resonances via plasmon-induced polymerization using hot electrons. ACS Photonics 4, 1453–1458 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Zhao, D. et al. Highly sensitive microfluidic detection of carcinoembryonic antigen via a synergetic fluorescence enhancement strategy based on the micro/nanostructure optimization of ZnO nanorod arrays and in situ ZIF-8 coating. Chem. Eng. J. 383, 123230 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Joannopoulos, J. D., Johnson, S. G., Winnand, J. N. & Meade, R. D. Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light (Princeton Univ. Press, 2008).

  39. Inan, H. et al. Photonic crystals: emerging biosensors and their promise for point-of-care applications. Chem. Soc. Rev. 46, 366–388 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  40. Hou, J. et al. Four-dimensional screening anti-counterfeiting pattern by inkjet printed photonic crystals. Chem. Asian J. 11, 2680–2685 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Yang, M., Liu, Y. & Jiang, X. Barcoded point-of-care bioassays. Chem. Soc. Rev. 48, 850–884 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Zhang, Y., Zhang, G., Zeng, Z. & Pu, K. Activatable molecular probes for fluorescence-guided surgery, endoscopy and tissue biopsy. Chem. Soc. Rev. 51, 566–593 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Zheng, S., Zhang, H., Ross, E., Le, T. V. & Wirth, M. J. Silica colloidal crystals for enhanced fluorescence detection in microarrays. Anal. Chem. 79, 3867–3872 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Chi, J. et al. Fast and sensitive detection of protein markers using an all-printing photonic crystal microarray via fingertip blood. ACS Sens 8, 1742–1749 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Chi, J. et al. All-printed point-of-care immunosensing biochip for one drop blood diagnostics. Lab Chip 22, 3008–3014 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Lian, Z. et al. At-home COVID-19 rapid antigen test down to 0.03 pg ml−1 of nucleocapsid protein. Small 19, 2301162 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Lin, X. et al. One-droplet saliva detection on photonic crystal-based competitive immunoassay for precise diagnosis of migraine. SmartMat 5, e1252 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Liu, Y. et al. Rapid and sensitive detection of urinary KIM-1 using fully printed photonic crystal microarrays. Nano Res 17, 4329–4337 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Liu, Z. et al. Rapid differential diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection by microdroplet reaction on portable biochip and indicator. Chem. Eng. J. 494, 153034 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Lian, Z. et al. Combined point-of-care-testing (POCT) of three inflammatory biomarkers. Figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29117594.v1 (2025).

  51. Wang, J. et al. Simple fabrication of full color colloidal crystal films with tough mechanical strength. Macromol. Chem. Phys. 207, 596–604 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. John, S. & Quang, T. Spontaneous emission near the edge of a photonic band gap. Phys. Rev. A 50, 1764–1769 (1994).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Li, Z.-Y., Lin, L.-L. & Zhang, Z.-Q. Spontaneous emission from photonic crystals: full vectorial calculations. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4341–4344 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Bechger, L., Lodahl, P. & Vos, W. L. Directional fluorescence spectra of laser dye in opal and inverse opal photonic crystals. J. Phys. Chem. B 109, 9980–9988 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Richel, A., Johnson, N. P. & McComb, D. W. Observation of Bragg reflection in photonic crystals synthesized from air spheres in a titania matrix. Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 1816–1818 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Busch, K. & John, S. Photonic band gap formation in certain self-organizing systems. Phys. Rev. E 58, 3896–3908 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Huang, Y. et al. Colloidal photonic crystals with narrow stopbands assembled from low-adhesive superhydrophobic substrates. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 17053–17058 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Park, J. & Moon, J. Control of colloidal particle deposit patterns within picoliter droplets ejected by ink-jet printing. Langmuir 22, 3506–3513 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Cui, L. Y. et al. Fabrication of large-area patterned photonic crystals by ink-jet printing. J. Mater. Chem. 19, 5499–5502 (2009).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Lian, Z. et al. Data of Printed photonic crystal biochips for rapid and sensitive detection of biomarkers in various body fluids. Figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28692044 (2025).

  61. Vanderschueren, S. et al. Extremely elevated C-reactive protein. Eur. J. Intern. Med. 17, 430–433 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Stankovic Stojanovic, K. et al. Concordance between CRP and SAA in familial Mediterranean fever during attack-free period: a study of 218 patients. Clin. Biochem. 50, 206–209 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Ledue, T. B. et al. Analytical evaluation of particle-enhanced immunonephelometric assays for C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A and mannose-binding protein in human serum. Ann. Clin. Biochem. 35, 745–753 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Yamada, T. Serum amyloid A (SAA): a concise review of biology assay methods and clinical usefulness. Clin. Chem. Lab. Med. 37, 381–388 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. Mieke De, B. et al. Structure and expression of different serum amyloid A (SAA) variants and their concentration-dependent functions during host insults. Curr. Med. Chem. 23, 1725–1755 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Zaki, H. A. et al. Accuracy of procalcitonin for diagnosing sepsis in adult patients admitted to the emergency department: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Syst. Rev. 13, 37 (2024).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  67. Wacker, C., Prkno, A., Brunkhorst, F. M. & Schlattmann, P. Procalcitonin as a diagnostic marker for sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Infect. Dis. 13, 426–435 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Lippi, G. & Sanchis-Gomar, F. Procalcitonin in inflammatory bowel disease: drawbacks and opportunities. World J. Gastroenterol. 23, 8283–8290 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  69. Ganesh, N. et al. Enhanced fluorescence emission from quantum dots on a photonic crystal surface. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2, 515–520 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  70. Mathias, P. C., Ganesh, N. & Cunningham, B. T. Application of photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence to a cytokine immunoassay. Anal. Chem. 80, 9013–9020 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. Shen, W. et al. Highly effective protein detection for avidin–biotin system based on colloidal photonic crystals enhanced fluoroimmunoassay. Biosens. Bioelectron. 26, 2165–2170 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2023YFE0111500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos T2394480, T2394484, 52321006, 52222313 and 22075296) and the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (grant no. BNLMS-CXXM-202005).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Green Printing, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences/Beijing Engineering Research Center of Nanomaterials for Green Printing Technology, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zewei Lian, Jimei Chi, Xu Yang, Lijun Cheng, Daixi Xie, Zhiyu Tan, Sisi Chen, Yang Yun, Wei Wu, Yanlin Song & Meng Su

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zewei Lian, Jimei Chi, Xu Yang, Lijun Cheng, Daixi Xie, Zhiyu Tan, Sisi Chen, Yang Yun, Yisilamu Yibulayimu, Wei Wu, Yanlin Song & Meng Su

Authors
  1. Zewei Lian
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jimei Chi
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xu Yang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lijun Cheng
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Daixi Xie
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zhiyu Tan
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Sisi Chen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Yang Yun
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Yisilamu Yibulayimu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Wei Wu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Yanlin Song
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Meng Su
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Y.S. and M.S. proposed the project. Z.L. and W.W. contributed to the printing procedure. Z.L., J.C., X.Y., L.C., D.X., Z.T., S.C. and Y. Yibulayimu contributed to the biofunctionalization procedure, detection procedure and measurement procedure. Z.L. and Y. Yun analyzed the data. Z.L., Y.S. and M.S. cowrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanlin Song or Meng Su.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics statement

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Chinese PLA General Hospital (approval nos: S2022-803-01, S2023-283-01 and 2023KY103-KS001). All participants have signed an informed consent form.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Protocols thanks Judith Su, Francesco Michelotti and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Key references

Chi, J. et al. Lab Chip 22, 3008–3014 (2022): https://doi.org/10.1039/D2LC00385F

Lian, Z. et al. Small 19, 2301162 (2023): https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202301162

Lin, X. et al. SmartMat 5, e1252 (2024): https://doi.org/10.1002/smm2.1252

Liu, Y. et al. Nano Res. 17, 4329–4337 (2024): https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6335-1

Liu, Z. et al. Chem. Eng. J. 494, 153034 (2024): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.153034

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 PC microarrays preparation.

The Jetting valves dispensing systems for preparation of PC microarrays.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Preparation of cleaning the nozzle in step 4 of the Printing Procedure.

Photograph of the installed syringe above the nozzle.

Extended Data Fig. 3 The step to power on the PICO Toμch controller in step 5 of the Printing Procedure.

Click the buttons in the red box in order.

Extended Data Fig. 4 The step to clean the nozzle in step 6 of the Printing Procedure.

a. Photograph of the barometer. b. Press and hold the clean button in the red box to clean the nozzle.

Extended Data Fig. 5 The step to add PC ink in step 7 of the Printing Procedure.

a. Photograph of a new syringe and a piston. b. Photograph of the syringe filled with PC ink.

Extended Data Fig. 6 The step to set-up the PICO Toμch controller in step 9 of the Printing Procedure.

Click the buttons in the red box in order. The proper range of pulse frequency is 0.45 ms-0.60 ms, and the proper range of stroke is 47-55 μm.

Extended Data Fig. 7 The step to set-up the portable fluorescence detector in step 18A of the Measurement Procedure.

a. Full view of the measurement software interface. b. The step to connect the portable fluorescence detector. Click the buttons in the red box to select the correct serial port. The pattern in the white box is displayed after successful connection. c. The step to set the cut-off value. Insert a blank test card, enter hCxE and click the button in the red box to set the cut-off value, where x is the cut-off value. The cut-off value in the white box is displayed after successful set-up. The cut-off value can be set from 0 to 65536.

Extended Data Fig. 8 The step to set-up the commercial fluorescence detector in step 18B of the Measurement Procedure.

click the buttons in the red box in order.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information (download PDF )

Supplementary Figs. 1–10 and Table 1.

Reporting Summary (download PDF )

Supplementary Video 1 (download MP4 )

Print procedure.

Supplementary Video 2 (download MP4 )

Qualitative detection by portable fluorescence detector.

Supplementary Video 3 (download MP4 )

Qualitative detection by commercial fluorescence detector.

Supplementary Video 4 (download MP4 )

Detection procedure and measurement procedure.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lian, Z., Chi, J., Yang, X. et al. Printed photonic crystal biochips for rapid and sensitive detection of biomarkers in various body fluids. Nat Protoc 20, 3783–3807 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-025-01215-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-025-01215-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research