Functionalization of Gold Electrodes with Aptamers for Impedimetric Biosensor for Detection of Brucella Abortus

<i>Brucella Abortus </i>is a bacterium that causes brucellosis, considered one of the main causes of economic losses in the livestock sector, also causing a zoonotic risk. It’s estimates that about half a million new cases of human brucellosis occur each year worldwide. Biosensors offer the necessary criteria to perform an early, accurate and efficient detection of <i>Brucella abortus</i>, to prevent the spread of the disease and minimize its effects on human and animal health, due to their ease of use and portability for complex samples. The objective of this work is to develop a selective platform for the detection of <i>Brucella abortus</i>, to be implemented in a microfluidic device based on an impedimetric aptasensor. The aptamers are covalently functionalized on the gold electrodes via glutaraldehyde and cysteamine. The electrodes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to confirm the presence of aptamers on the surface; scanning electron microscopy (SEM) Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to image the aptamer layer on the electrode surface and evaluate the morphology, quality, homogeneity, uniformity, and thickness. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) are applied to observe the biological interaction response and interfacial properties of the functionalized electrode.