In situ IR spectroscopic studies of the avidin-biotin bioconjugation reaction on CdS particle films

Development of biotinylated and magnetic bead-immobilized enzymes for efficient glyco-engineering and isolation of antibodies

The chemoenzymatic remodeled monoclonal antidodies with well-defined glycan structure at the Fc domain display improved biological activities, such as ADCC and ADCP, and are more likely to yield a better safety profile by eliminating the non-human glycans derived from CHO cell culture. We covalently immobilize wild type endoglycosidase S (EndoS), fucosidase, and EndoS2 mutant on magnetic beads through a linker to efficiently generate homogeneous antibody glycoforms without additional purification step to remove endoglycosidase and fucosidase. We also used the biotinylated wild type EndoS2 and EndoS2 mutant in combination with covalently immobilized fucosidase on magnetic beads to allow the sequential removal of endoglycosidases and fucosidase for efficient glyco-engineering and isolation of antibodies without purifying deglycosylated antibody intermediate. Notably, the relatively expensive fucosidase can be recovered to reduce the cost, and the strong affinity of streptavidin to biotin would complete the isolation of biotinylated enzymes. We used Trastuzumab as a model to demonstrate both approaches were reliable for the large-scale production and isolation of antibodies without the residual contamination of endoglycosidase to avoid deglycosylation over storage time.

Versatile Protein-A Coated Photoelectric Immunosensors with a Purple-Membrane Monolayer Transducer Fabricated by Affinity-Immobilization on a Graphene-Oxide Complexed Linker and by Shear Flow

Bacteriorhodopsin-embedded purple membranes (PM) have been demonstrated to be a sensitive photoelectric transducer for microbial detection. To efficiently prepare versatile BR-based immunosensors with protein A as antibody captures, a large, high-coverage, and uniformly oriented PM monolayer was fabricated on an electrode as an effective foundation for protein A conjugation through bis-NHS esters, by first affinity-coating biotinylated PM on an aminated surface using a complex of oxidized avidin and graphene oxide as the planar linker and then washing the coating with a shear flow. Three different polyclonal antibodies, each against Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Streptococcus mutans, respectively, were individually, effectively and readily adsorbed on the protein A coated electrodes, leading to selective and sensitive quantitative detection of their respective target cells in a single step without any labeling. A single-cell detection limit was achieved for the former two cells. AFM, photocurrent, and Raman analyses all displayed each fabricated layer as well as the captured bacteria, with AFM particularly revealing the formation of a massive continuous PM monolayer on aminated mica. The facile cell-membrane monolayer fabrication and membrane surface conjugation techniques disclosed in this study may be widely applied to the preparation of different biomembrane-based biosensors.

Electrochemical determination of M. tuberculosis antigen based on Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and functionalized carbon nanotubes hybrid platform

An electrochemical DNA aptasensor for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) antigen MPT64, was developed using Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The biotinylated aptamer was immobilized onto streptavidin attached to -COOH functionalized CNTs via streptavidin-biotin interaction. Various characterization studies as FT-IR, FE-SEM, EIS and DPV were done to validate each fabrication step of the aptasensor. Optimization studies related to aptamer concentration and response time were performed. The electrochemical signal generated from the aptamer-target molecule interaction was monitored electrochemically by differential pulse voltammetry in the presence of [Fe(CN)₆]^3-/4- as a redox probe. The aptasensor exhibited limit of detection of 0.5±0.2fgmL^-1 within 15min with stability of 27 days at 4°C and reusability of 7 times after repeated regeneration with 50mM NaOH. The potential application of the aptasensor was established by spike-in studies to obtain recovery in between (88-95)%.

Ultrasensitive Visual Detection of HIV DNA Biomarkers via a Multi-amplification Nanoplatform

Methodologies to detect disease biomarkers at ultralow concentrations can potentially improve the standard of living. A facile and label-free multi-amplification strategy is proposed for the ultrasensitive visual detection of HIV DNA biomarkers in real physiological media. This multi-amplification strategy not only exhibits a signficantly low detection limit down to 4.8 pM but also provides a label-free, cost-effective and facile technique for visualizing a few molecules of nucleic acid analyte with the naked eye. Importantly, the biosensor is capable of discriminating single-based mismatch lower than 5.0 nM in human serum samples. Moreover, the visual sensing platform exhibits excellent specificity, acceptable reusability and a long-term stability. All these advantages could be attributed to the nanofibrous sensing platform that 1) has a high surface-area-to-volume provided by electrospun nanofibrous membrane, and 2) combines glucose oxidase (GOx) biocatalysis, DNAzyme-catalyzed colorimetric reaction and catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) recycling amplification together. This multi-amplification nanoplatform promises label-free and visual single-based mismatch DNA monitoring with high sensitivity and specificity, suggesting wide applications that range from virus detection to genetic disease diagnosis.

Magnetic Bead-Magic Bullet

Microfluidics is assumed to be one of the leading and most promising areas of research since the early 1990s. In microfluidic systems, small spherical magnetic particles with superparamagnetic properties, called magnetic beads, play an important role in the design of innovative methods and tools, especially in bioanalysis and medical sciences. The intention of this review paper is to address main aspects from the state-of-the-art in the area of magnetic bead research, while demonstrating the broad variety of applications and the huge potential to solve fundamental biological and medical problems in the fields of diagnostics and therapy. Basic issues and demands related to the fabrication of magnetic particles and physical properties of nanosize magnets are discussed in Section 2. Of main interest are the control and adjustment of the nanoparticles' properties and the availability of adequate approaches for particle detection via their magnetic field. Section 3 presents an overview of magnetic bead applications in nanomedicine. In Section 4, practical aspects of sample manipulation and separation employing magnetic beads are described. Finally, the benefits related to the use of magnetic bead-based microfluidic systems are summarized, illustrating ongoing questions and open tasks to be solved on the way to an approaching microfluidic age.

Investigating bioconjugation by atomic force microscopy

Nanotechnological applications increasingly exploit the selectivity and processivity of biological molecules. Integration of biomolecules such as proteins or DNA into nano-systems typically requires their conjugation to surfaces, for example of carbon-nanotubes or fluorescent quantum dots. The bioconjugated nanostructures exploit the unique strengths of both their biological and nanoparticle components and are used in diverse, future oriented research areas ranging from nanoelectronics to biosensing and nanomedicine. Atomic force microscopy imaging provides valuable, direct insight for the evaluation of different conjugation approaches at the level of the individual molecules. Recent technical advances have enabled high speed imaging by AFM supporting time resolutions sufficient to follow conformational changes of intricately assembled nanostructures in solution. In addition, integration of AFM with different spectroscopic and imaging approaches provides an enhanced level of information on the investigated sample. Furthermore, the AFM itself can serve as an active tool for the assembly of nanostructures based on bioconjugation. AFM is hence a major workhorse in nanotechnology; it is a powerful tool for the structural investigation of bioconjugation and bioconjugation-induced effects as well as the simultaneous active assembly and analysis of bioconjugation-based nanostructures.

Biotinylation of silicon-doped hydroxyapatite: a new approach to protein fixation for bone tissue regeneration

Silicon-doped hydroxyapatite has been functionalized with biotin molecules as a new methodology for the attachment of proteins, peptides or growth factors through the formation of avidin-biotin complex in this material. Bioceramic biotinylation has been performed by esterification reaction between the OH groups of hydroxyapatite and COOH groups of biotin molecules. Several parameters of the biotinylation, such as the addition of N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC), the biotin/bioceramic molar ratio and the activation time, have been studied in order to improve both the amount of anchored biotin on the bioceramic surface and its bond strength. The grafting of biotin on a silicon-doped hydroxyapatite surface was determined using (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and elemental analyses. The results show that the addition of DCC significantly increases both the amount of biotin grafted and the bond strength, because the major part is through covalent bonding. Lixiviation studies in simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37 degrees C have confirmed such results, showing that the retention grade after 7 days in SBF was of ca. 63%. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-avidin complexation has been performed on three-dimensional (3-D) scaffolds prepared by a rapid-prototyping technique. Confocal microscopy studies show a homogeneous distribution with a higher incorporation rate of the protein over the entire external surface of the biotinylated 3-D scaffold.