Interconnected biosensors glowing with spectral light, symbolizing simultaneous detection and analysis.

Multiplex Marvels: How Multichannel Biosensors are Revolutionizing Diagnostics

Beau Callahan in Tech & Innovation September 2025 • 3 min read.

"Simultaneous detection, increased accuracy, and noise reduction: Discover the groundbreaking potential of multichannel long-range surface plasmon waveguides for biosensing."

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors have become indispensable tools for real-time, label-free biomolecular interaction analysis. By monitoring the excitation conditions of surface plasmons, these sensors enable the detection of biomaterial binding, making them essential for drug discovery and biomarker detection.

However, detecting disease biomarkers presents significant challenges due to their low concentrations and non-specific interactions within complex biological samples. To address these limitations, multichannel biosensors offer a promising solution by enabling simultaneous measurements with positive and negative controls, enhancing reproducibility and accuracy.

Multichannel biosensors can simultaneously detect a biomarker of interest across different sensing channels while minimizing common signal distortions. By saving time, reducing sample volume, and ensuring sensor areas are essentially identical, these biosensors increase reliability.

What Makes Multichannel Long-Range Surface Plasmon Waveguides a Game Changer?

Interconnected biosensors glowing with spectral light, symbolizing simultaneous detection and analysis.

Researchers have introduced long-range surface plasmon-polariton (LRSPP) waves propagating on thin metal stripes embedded in dielectrics as attenuation-based biosensors. LRSPPs are easily excited and can be monolithically integrated with microfluidic channels, enabling compact and integrated biosensor geometries.

Changes in output power due to the formation of an adlayer on the metal surface can be monitored in real-time, offering a dynamic sensing capability. While previous work has focused on single-channel geometries, integrated multichannel LRSPP waveguide structures are revolutionizing multiplexed biosensing.

Parallel Sensing: Multiple channels allow for the simultaneous detection of different biomarkers or the same biomarker under varying conditions.
Referencing: Integrated reference channels mitigate drift and common-mode noise, enhancing the reliability of measurements.
Noise Reduction: By comparing signals across multiple channels, common sources of noise can be identified and filtered out, leading to more accurate results.

These structures use either a triple coupler or a corporate feed in cascade with an array of sensing waveguides. Researchers have demonstrated bulk and protein sensing for each channel, achieving performance comparable to single straight waveguide biosensors. The ability to perform parallel sensing, referencing, and common noise rejection makes multichannel biosensors a powerful tool.

The Future of Biosensing is Here

By designing and testing two distinct multichannel biosensor configurations, scientists have demonstrated the potential of LRSPP waveguides for revolutionizing diagnostics. These innovative devices enable simultaneous measurements, reduce noise, and improve accuracy, paving the way for faster, more reliable, and cost-effective healthcare solutions.

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1109/jlt.2018.2875953, Alternate LINK

Title: Multichannel Long-Range Surface Plasmon Waveguides For Parallel Biosensing

Subject: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Journal: Journal of Lightwave Technology

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Authors: Wei Ru Wong, Hui Fan, Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan, Pierre Berini

Published: 2018-12-01

Everything You Need To Know

How do multichannel biosensors improve biomarker detection compared to single-channel sensors?

Multichannel biosensors enhance biosensing by enabling simultaneous measurements with both positive and negative controls. This simultaneous detection capability helps to minimize common signal distortions, saving time and reducing the required sample volume. Because the sensor areas are essentially identical across multiple channels, the reliability of biomarker detection is significantly increased.

What are long-range surface plasmon-polariton (LRSPP) waves, and how are they used in biosensing?

Long-range surface plasmon-polariton (LRSPP) waves are used as attenuation-based biosensors. They are easily excited and can be integrated with microfluidic channels, which allows for compact and integrated biosensor designs. Changes in output power are monitored in real-time. Integrated multichannel LRSPP waveguide structures permit multiplexed biosensing.

What are the key advantages of using multichannel long-range surface plasmon waveguides in biosensing?

Multichannel long-range surface plasmon waveguides allow for parallel sensing, where multiple channels can simultaneously detect different biomarkers or the same biomarker under varying conditions. They also incorporate referencing, where integrated reference channels mitigate drift and common-mode noise. Additionally, they facilitate noise reduction by comparing signals across multiple channels to identify and filter out common sources of noise.

What are the design configurations used in the demonstrated multichannel biosensors, and how do they perform?

The two multichannel biosensor configurations demonstrated use either a triple coupler or a corporate feed in cascade with an array of sensing waveguides. These designs have shown performance comparable to single straight waveguide biosensors in both bulk and protein sensing. The key advantage is the ability to perform parallel sensing, referencing, and common noise rejection simultaneously.

What are the broader implications of using multichannel biosensors in diagnostics and healthcare?

The ability to perform real-time, label-free biomolecular interaction analysis, offered by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors, is crucial for applications like drug discovery and biomarker detection. However, detecting low concentrations of disease biomarkers in complex biological samples remains a challenge. Multichannel biosensors address this by improving accuracy, reducing noise, and enabling faster, more reliable diagnostics, which could revolutionize healthcare by making it more cost-effective.