Synthesis of an antibody-like material for the detection of Albumin

6th Graduate Student Symposium on Molecular Imprinting6th Graduate Student Symposium on Molecular Imprinting, Medway School of Pharmacy, Kent, 27-28 de Agosto 2015A novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) is presented for the detection of Albumin, currently a biomarker of several diseases. The material acted as an antibody for Albumin and was obtained through a bulk imprinting approach, by electropolymerizing Eriochrome blackT (EBT) around the target protein

THE IMPACT OF INFORMAL CAREGIVERS DURING CANCER PATIENTS’ TRAJECTORY IN ECONOMIC HEALTH OUTCOMES

In the trajectory of the person with cancer, the presence of uncontrolled symptoms are the main and frequent cause of demand for health services, which increases with the advanced stage of the disease. The modernization of health systems advocates the domiciliation of health care, with proximity assistance, where informal caregivers assume a role of relevance. Persons with cancer prefer this typology of service, as well have positive impact in economic health outcomes. However, it is essential to reflect in the shapes of the professional support, health policies and incentives, which are needed with the finality to prevent burnout of the caregiver. As ensure the resources to certify the self-care and quality of life of the person with cancer and informal caregivers

Development of PVD-deposited Pd-Ag functional thin films membranes on ceramic supports for hydrogen purification/separation

Palladium (Pd)-based membranes have been studied for many years, regarding applications in production and purifi-cation of hydrogen. The reaction of water gas shift (CO+ H2O ↔ CO2 + H2), for example, can advantageously be conducted in a Pd-based membrane reactor, where hydrogen produced selectively permeates the membrane [1]. When hydrogen permeates with an infinite selectivity, its passage is governed by sorption-diffusion mechanism through the atomic struc-ture. Among all metals, palladium is the material that exhibits the highest atomic hydrogen permeability, resulting from the high capability in the catalytic dissociation of H2 molecules it in its metallic structure [2]. However, the use of pure palladi-um membranes has some limitations [3]. When palladium alloys such as Pd-Ag are used, the result is a homogeneous solid solution with a fcc structure [4,5]. This alloy prevents the formation of hybrid phases, allowing higher hydrogen permeation along with chemical and mechanical stability, reducing also the overall cost of raw material [2].Patricia Pérez is grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for the doctoral grant (reference: SFRH/BD/73673/2010). The authors also acknowledge fi-nancing from FCT through the project PTDC/EQU-ERQ/098730/2008 and COMPETE scientific program. The authors show appreciation for the collaboration of Sandra Rodrigues on the permeation experiments

A novel printed 3-electrode system for the electrochemical detection of sulfadiazine

We thank the financial support of 3C´s – Cellulose and Cork in the Control of antibiotics in aquaculture (PTDC/AAG-TEC/5400/2014 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016637), to FEDER, through COMPETE2020, POCI, and FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A new biomimetic sensor for detecting carnitine, a potential biomarker in ovarian cancer

1st ASPIC International Congress1st ASPIC International Congress, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, 25-26 de Novembro, 2014Carnitine (CRT) displays an important role in cellular metabolism and energy production. It has actions that include the metabolites associated with glycolysis and β-oxidation of fatty acids. The change of its levels in biological fluids has been associated to the presence of ovarian cancer, making CRT a potential biomarker of the disease. Sensitive CRT determination (in low levels) becomes therefore important, for which a low cost and sensitive device would be appreciated. A biomimetic polymer is proposed herein for this purpose, produced by bulk electropolymerization around a hydrophobic paper substrate that was made conductive by casting a graphite-based ink. Materials and methods The electrode substrate was prepared by modifying cellulose paper, first with solid wax and after with carbon ink. The hydrophobicity of the paper was tested by contact angle and the ink properties evaluated by Thermogravimetry, Raman Spectroscopy and FTIR. Two different biomimetic materials were electropolymerized over the carbon conductive support: 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and dodecilbenzenesulfonic acid sodium salt (NaDBS). The polymeric film depositions were obtained by chronoamperometry at 0.9 V vs Ag/AgCl during 240 s. The obtained sensors were characterized by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), in 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) buffer at pH 7.0

Purification, characterization and clinical applications of therapeutic fungal enzymes

This book chapter presents an overview of therapeutic fungal enzymes and their developments in biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of several diseases, clinical applications and investigation. Enzymes are biocatalysts of many reactions with widespread use in the pharmaceutical industry and medicine. Due to their high specificity, greater affinity, and high catalytic efficiency, enzymes have been widely used for therapeutic purposes. More specifically, therapeutic enzymes are being used in the treatment of several diseases, such as leukemia, cancer, pancreatic disorders, etc. For instance, L-asparaginase, which presents antineoplastic properties, has been used for the treatment of leukemia, namely acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nowadays, more than 50% of the enzymes are produced by fungal sources, including the therapeutic enzymes, due to the advantages of being an economically feasible and consistent process, since it has high yield and is easy for modification and optimization of new therapeutic products. In this book chapter, readers from academies, research institutes and industries will gain useful information and in-deep knowledge on the emerging therapeutic fungal enzymes, their purification processes, characterization and medical applications.publishe

Image analysis technique as a tool to identify morphological changes in Trametes versicolor pellets according to exopolysaccharide or laccase production

Image analysis technique was applied to identify morphological changes of pellets from white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor on agitated submerged cultures during the production of exopolysaccharide (EPS) or ligninolytic enzymes. Batch tests with four different experimental conditions were carried out. Two different culture media were used, namely yeast medium or Trametes defined medium and the addition of lignolytic inducers as xylidine or pulp and paper industrial effluent were evaluated. Laccase activity, EPS production, and final biomass contents were determined for batch assays and the pellets morphology was assessed by image analysis techniques. The obtained data allowed establishing the choice of the metabolic pathways according to the experimental conditions, either for laccase enzymatic production in the Trametes defined medium, or for EPS production in the rich Yeast Medium experiments. Furthermore, the image processing and analysis methodology allowed for a better comprehension of the physiological phenomena with respect to the corresponding pellets morphological stages.The authors acknowledge Portucel-Empresa de Celulose e Papel, Cacia, Portugal, SA for the pulp and paper Kraft effluent used in this work. This work was funded by FEDER Funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade-COMPETE, and national funds through FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia under the projects PEst-C/CTM/LA/0011/2013 and PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2013. A. P. M. Tavares acknowledge the financial support of (Programme Ciencia 2008) FCT, Portugal

New liquid supports in the development of integrated platforms for the reuse of oxidative enzymes and polydopamine production

Polydopamine (PDA), a bioinspired polymer from mussel adhesive proteins, has attracted impressive attention as a novel coating for (nano) materials with an adequate conformal layer and adjustable thickness. Currently, PDA is obtained from dopamine chemical oxidation under alkaline conditions, limiting its use in materials sensible to alkaline environments. Envisaging a widespread use of PDA, the polymerization of dopamine by enzymatic catalysis allows the dopamine polymerization in a large range of pHs, overcoming thus the limitations of conventional chemical oxidation. Moreover, the conventional method of polymerization is a time-consuming process and produces PDA films with poor stability, which restricts its applications. On the other hand, the main bottleneck of enzyme-based biocatalytic processes is the high cost of the single use of the enzyme. In this work, laccase was used to catalyse dopamine polymerization. To improve its performance, a liquid support for integrating the laccase and its reuse together with the PDA production and recovery was developed using aqueous biphasic systems (ABS). Firstly, dopamine polymerization by laccase was optimized in terms of pH, temperature and initial dopamine concentration. It was demonstrated that the highest enzymatic polymerization of dopamine was achieved at pH 5.5, 30°C and 2 mg ml−1 of dopamine. Then, ABS composed of polymers, salts and ionic liquids were evaluated to optimize the laccase confinement in one phase while PDA is recovered in the opposite phase. The most promising ABS allowing the separation of laccase from the reaction product is composed of polypropylene glycol (400 g mol−1) and K2HPO4. The polymerization of dopamine in ABS leads to a remarkable improvement of polymerization of 3.9-fold in comparison to the conventional chemical PDA polymerization. The phase containing the confined laccase was reused for four consecutive reaction cycles, with a relative polymerization of 68.9% in the last cycle. The results of this work proved that ABS are a promising approach to create a liquid support for enzyme reuse allowing the process intensification efforts. The use of biocatalysts in ABS emerges as sustainable and alternative platforms from environmental and techno-economic points of view.publishe

Efficient extraction of the RuBisCO enzyme from spinach leaves using aqueous solutions of biocompatible ionic liquids

Ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) is the most abundant protein on the planet, being present in plants, algae and various species of bacteria, with application in the pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetic and food industries. However, current extraction methods of RuBisCO do not allow high yields of extraction. Therefore, the development of an efficient and selective RuBisCOs’ extraction method is required. In this work, aqueous solutions of biocompatible ionic liquids (ILs), i.e., ILs derived from choline and analogues of glycine-betaine, were applied in the RuBisCO’s extraction from spinach leaves. Three commercial imidazolium-based ILs were also investigated for comparison purposes. To optimize RuBisCO’s extraction conditions, response surface methodology was applied. Under optimum extraction conditions, extraction yields of 10.92 and 10.57 mg of RuBisCO/g of biomass were obtained with the ILs cholinium acetate ([Ch][Ac]) and cholinium chloride ([Ch]Cl), respectively. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy results show that the secondary structure of RuBisCO is better preserved in the IL solutions when compared to the commonly used extraction solvent. The obtained results indicate that cholinium-based ILs are a promising and viable alternative for the extraction of RuBisCO from vegetable biomass.publishe

Synthesis of Pd-Ag alloy membranes and their application in membrane reactors for hydrogen production and purification

Pd-Ag based membranes, self-supported and supported on porous α-Al2O3, have been studied for hydrogen selective separation. In the case of the self-supported membranes the Pd-Ag permeator tube was prepared by cold-rolling and diffusion welding technique; magnetron sputtering technique was employed for the synthesis of the membrane supported on porous α-Al2O3. The results have shown that the self supported Pd-Ag membranes are infinitively H2-selective and the H2-permeation rate through this membrane is in accordance with Sieverts´ law for detect-free meal membranes; hence, an ultra-pure hydrogen stream can be obtained. The Pd-Ag membrane supported on porous α-Al2O3 is not completely selective towards H2, but requires much less metal since it is much thinner (ca. ~50 vs. 1 µm). In this work, it was studied the water-gas shift on Pd-Ag membrane reactor, but it was also illustrated another application of palladium membranes, in the ethanol steam reforming. The use of the self-supported Pd-Ag membrane leads to enhance the H2 yield in both reactions, providing much better performances than conventional reactors.Patricia Pérez is grateful to Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for the doctoral grant (reference: SFRH/BD/73673/2010). The authors also acknowledge financing from FCT through the project PTDC / EQU -ERQ/098730/2008