Abstract text (incl. figure legends and references)
Sepsis due to acute inflammation is a serious health risk for patients. According to the WHO, one in five deaths worldwide can be linked to a severe course of sepsis. Especially after operations, the state of health must be critically monitored. Due to the high mortality rate of sepsis, which increases approx. 8 % per hour, close patient monitoring must be carried out to enable rapid therapy. However, current laboratory methods make this difficult due to costs, the need for trained personnel and, above all, the time required for analysis. Biosensors as point-of-care devices offer a simple solution for cost-effective and rapid monitoring. In this work, two different biosensor types for the detection of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) as early stage Sepsis marker are investigated and compared. First, a colorimetric biosensor produced with inkjet printing was developed. Antibody and aptamer linked gold-nanoparticles were applied as bioreceptors. In presence of IL-6 the nanoparticles aggregate, which leads to a shifting of the plasmon resonance peak and an associated color change from red to blue. This allows nurses and caregivers to assess the state of health within a few minutes without technical aids or special training. Second, a screen-printed electrochemical biosensor that enables a quantitative determination of IL-6 levels was developed. Here, the first tests already showed a sensitivity of 56 % in a very wide measuring range from 0 to 1600 pg. Improvements in the manufacturing process can be expected to improve these values. In sum, two approaches for detecting IL-6 and thus sepsis at an early stage are presented and discussed. Not only the biosensors themselves are presented, but also their potential for scaling up through (bio)printing technologies. In this way, we would like to draw attention to the high potential of this manufacturing technology for this type of sensor and future applications in cost-effective and comprehensive point-of-care monitoring of analytes.