Self-assembled glucosamine monolayers as biomimetic receptors for detecting WGA lectin and influenza virus with a quartz crystal microbalance

Biosensors as Nano-Analytical Tools for COVID-19 Detection

Selective, sensitive and affordable techniques to detect disease and underlying health issues have been developed recently. Biosensors as nanoanalytical tools have taken a front seat in this context. Nanotechnology-enabled progress in the health sector has aided in disease and pandemic management at a very early stage efficiently. This report reflects the state-of-the-art of nanobiosensor-based virus detection technology in terms of their detection methods, targets, limits of detection, range, sensitivity, assay time, etc. The article effectively summarizes the challenges with traditional technologies and newly emerging biosensors, including the nanotechnology-based detection kit for COVID-19; optically enhanced technology; and electrochemical, smart and wearable enabled nanobiosensors. The less explored but crucial piezoelectric nanobiosensor and the reverse transcription-loop mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP)-based biosensor are also discussed here. The article could be of significance to researchers and doctors dedicated to developing potent, versatile biosensors for the rapid identification of COVID-19. This kind of report is needed for selecting suitable treatments and to avert epidemics.

Nanobiosensors for the Detection of Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV and Other Pandemic/Epidemic Respiratory Viruses: A Review

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is considered a public health emergency of international concern. The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused this pandemic has spread rapidly to over 200 countries, and has drastically affected public health and the economies of states at unprecedented levels. In this context, efforts around the world are focusing on solving this problem in several directions of research, by: (i) exploring the origin and evolution of the phylogeny of the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome; (ii) developing nanobiosensors that could be highly effective in detecting the new coronavirus; (iii) finding effective treatments for COVID-19; and (iv) working on vaccine development. In this paper, an overview of the progress made in the development of nanobiosensors for the detection of human coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is presented, along with specific techniques for modifying the surface of nanobiosensors. The newest detection methods of the influenza virus responsible for acute respiratory syndrome were compared with conventional methods, highlighting the newest trends in diagnostics, applications, and challenges of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causative virus) nanobiosensors.

A Perspective on Recent Advances in Piezoelectric Chemical Sensors for Environmental Monitoring and Foodstuffs Analysis

This paper provides a selection of the last two decades publications on the development and application of chemical sensors based on piezoelectric quartz resonators for a wide range of analytical tasks. Most of the attention is devoted to an analysis of gas and liquid media and to industrial processes controls utilizing single quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors, bulk acoustic wave (BAW) sensors, and their arrays in e-nose systems. The unique opportunity to estimate several heavy metals in natural and wastewater samples from the output of a QCM sensor array highly sensitive to changes in metal ion activity in water vapor is shown. The high potential of QCM multisensor systems for fast and cost-effective water contamination assessments “in situ” without sample pretreatment is demonstrated.

A promising magnetic SERS immunosensor for sensitive detection of avian influenza virus

Avian influenza viruses infect a great number of global populations every year and can lead to severe epidemics with high morbidity and mortality. Facile, rapid and sensitive detection of viruses is very crucial to control the viral spread at its early stage. In this work, we developed a novel magnetic immunosensor based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy to detect intact but inactivated influenza virus H3N2 (A/Shanghai/4084T/2012) by constructing a sandwich complex consisting of SERS tags, target influenza viruses and highly SERS-active magnetic supporting substrates. The procedure of sample pretreatment could be significantly simplified since the magnetic supporting substrates allowed the enrichment and separation of viruses from a complex matrix. With a portable Raman spectrometer, the immunosensor could detect H3N2 down to 10²TCID₅₀/mL (TCID₅₀ refers to tissue culture infection dose at 50% end point), with a good linear relationship from 10² to 5×10³ TCID₅₀/mL. Considering its time efficiency, portability and sensitivity, the proposed SERS-based magnetic immunoassay is very promising for a point-of-care (POC) test in clinical and diagnostic praxis.

Ultrasensitive detection of influenza viruses with a glycan-based impedimetric biosensor

An ultrasensitive impedimetric glycan-based biosensor for reliable and selective detection of inactivated, but intact influenza viruses H3N2 was developed. Such glycan-based approach has a distinct advantage over antibody-based detection of influenza viruses since glycans are natural viral receptors with a possibility to selectively distinguish between potentially pathogenic influenza subtypes by the glycan-based biosensors. Build-up of the biosensor was carefully optimized with atomic force microscopy applied for visualization of the biosensor surface after binding of viruses with the topology of an individual viral particle H3N2 analyzed. The glycan biosensor could detect a glycan binding lectin with a limit of detection (LOD) of 5 aM. The biosensor was finally applied for analysis of influenza viruses H3N2 with LOD of 13 viral particles in 1 μl, what is the lowest LOD for analysis of influenza viral particles by the glycan-based device achieved so far. The biosensor could detect H3N2 viruses selectively with a sensitivity ratio of 30 over influenza viruses H7N7. The impedimetric biosensor presented here is the most sensitive glycan-based device for detection of influenza viruses and among the most sensitive antibody or aptamer based biosensor devices.

Quartz-Crystal Microbalance (QCM) for Public Health: An Overview of Its Applications

Nanobiotechnologies, from the convergence of nanotechnology and molecular biology and postgenomics medicine, play a major role in the field of public health. This overview summarizes the potentiality of piezoelectric sensors, and in particular, of quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM), a physical nanogram-sensitive device. QCM enables the rapid, real time, on-site detection of pathogens with an enormous burden in public health, such as influenza and other respiratory viruses, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and drug-resistant bacteria, among others. Further, it allows to detect food allergens, food-borne pathogens, such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, and food chemical contaminants, as well as water-borne microorganisms and environmental contaminants. Moreover, QCM holds promises in early cancer detection and screening of new antiblastic drugs. Applications for monitoring biohazards, for assuring homeland security, and preventing bioterrorism are also discussed.

Are glycan biosensors an alternative to glycan microarrays?

Complex carbohydrates (glycans) play an important role in nature and study of their interaction with proteins or intact cells can be useful for understanding many physiological and pathological processes. Such interactions have been successfully interrogated in a highly parallel way using glycan microarrays, but this technique has some limitations. Thus, in recent years glycan biosensors in numerous progressive configurations have been developed offering distinct advantages compared to glycan microarrays. Thus, in this review advances achieved in the field of label-free glycan biosensors are discussed.

Concanavalin A-polysaccharides binding affinity analysis using a quartz crystal microbalance

There is no comparative data available on the binding constants of Concanavalin A (Con A) and glycogen and Con A-mannan using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), cost and time efficient system for biosensor analysis. It is hypothesized that a QCM can be used in its flow injection mode to monitor the binding affinity of polysaccharides to an immobilized lectin, Con A. The biosensor is prepared by immobilizing Con A on a 5MHz gold crystal by carbodiimide crosslinking chemistry. The attachment efficiency is monitored by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Equilibrium association and dissociation constants describing Con A-polysaccharides interaction are determined in a saturation binding experiment, where increasing concentrations of polysaccharides are run on a Con A-immobilized gold crystal surface, and the frequency shifts recorded on the frequency counter. The molecular weights (MW) of glycogen from Oyster and mannan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae are determined by size exclusion chromatography. The MW for glycogen and mannan are 604±0.002 kDa and 54±0.002 kDa, respectively. The equilibrium association and dissociation constants for Con A-glycogen and Con A-mannan interactions are KA=3.93±0.7×10(6) M(-1)/KD=0.25±0.06 μM and (n=3), respectively. Their respective frequency and motional resistance shifts relationship (ΔF/ΔR) are 37.29±1.55 and 34.86±0.85 Hz/Ω (n=3), which support the validity of Sauerbrey׳s rigidity approximation. This work suggests that Con A-mannan complex could be potentially utilized for insulin delivery and the targeting of glucose-rich substances and glycoproteins when fast drug release is desired.

A novel approach to identify molecular binding to the influenza virus H5N1: screening using molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs)

We investigate whether a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) of influenza A H5N1 could be used to help identify molecules capable of binding to, and inhibiting the function of the virus,viaeither competitive or allosteric mechanisms.