Thesis

Developing carbon paste electrodes and their application to electrochemical immunoassays

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2026
Thesis identifier
  • T17669
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 202155807
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Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Cancer is a major challenge faced by the NHS, accounting for up to 28% of annual deaths in England. Despite its high profile, diagnosis is still a lengthy process, due to its heterogeneity in presentation. While screening is routinely performed to enable the detection of some of the most common cancers and can successfully reduce mortality, effective screening of other cancers is not yet possible due to the lack of effective detection tools. Liquid biopsy enabled via electrochemical detection may help provide these tools via the identification of cancer specific biomarkers from quickly and easily acquired body fluid samples. Although these electrochemical methods show great promise in literature, their commercial use is currently limited. Work presented in this thesis shows the development of a cheap carbon paste electrode, its optimisation and its application in the detection of cancer related biomarkers through immunoassays. A carbon paste electrode was initially developed in lab and suitable physical and chemical pretreatments ascertained to improve its performance. A chip format was then developed and used in the direct detection of dopamine where it produced limits of detection of 62.5 μM. It was also capable of detecting the key inflammatory biomarker, interleukin – 6, via measurement of ELISA products, producing a limit of detection of 150 pg/ml (in the clinically relevant range). Indirect detection of a more directly clinically relevant biomarker tested, PSA, was then performed. Although binding of this assay to the surface was possible, it could not improve performance significantly. Finally, an attempt was made to improve paste performance via further pretreatments and manufacturing changes. Improvements from chemical pretreatments were short lived and changes to manufacturing were unable to produce any significant improvement in paste performance.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Corrigan, Damion
Resource Type
DOI

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