282 research outputs found

    Simultaneous evaluation of multiple microarray surface chemistries through real-time interferometric imaging.

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    Surface chemistry is a crucial aspect for microarray modality biosensor development. The immobilization capability of the functionalized surface is indeed a limiting factor for the final yield of the binding reaction. In this work, we were able to simultaneously compare the functionality of protein ligands that were locally immobilized on different polymers, while on the same solid support, therefore demonstrating a new way of multiplexing. Our goal was to investigate, in a single experiment, both the immobilization efficiency of a group of reactive polymers and the resulting affinity of the tethered molecules. This idea was demonstrated by spotting many reactive polymers on a Si/SiO2 chip and depositing the molecular probes on the spots immediately after. As a proof of concept, we focused on which polymers would better immobilize a model protein (α-Lactalbumin) and a peptide (LAC-1). We successfully showed that this protocol is applicable to proteins and peptides with a good efficiency. By means of real-time binding measurements performed with the interferometric reflectance imaging sensor (IRIS), local functionalization proved to be comparable to the classical flat coating solution. The final outcome highlights the multiplexing power of this method: first, it allows to characterize dozens of polymers at once. Secondly, it removes the limitation, related to coated surfaces, that only molecules with the same functional groups can be tethered to the same solid support. By applying this protocol, many types of molecules can be studied simultaneously and immobilization for each probe can be individually optimized.766466 (INDEX) - Horizon 2020 Framework Programmehttps://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/itempdf74155353254prod/8976347/Simultaneous_Evaluation_of_Multiple_Microarray_Surface_Chemistries_Through_Real-Time_Interferometric_Imaging_v1.pdfFirst author draf

    Optical sensing in microchip capillary electrophoresis by femtosecond laser written waveguides

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    Capillary electrophoresis separation in an on-chip integrated microfluidic channel is typically monitored with bulky, bench-top optical excitation/detection instrumentation. Optical waveguides allow confinement and transport of light in the chip directing it to a small volume of the microfluidic channel and collecting the emitted/transmitted radiation. However, the fabrication of optical waveguides or more complex photonic components integrated with the microfluidic channels is not a straightforward process, since it requires a localized increase of the refractive index of the substrate.\ud Recently, a novel technique has emerged for the direct writing of waveguides and photonic circuits in transparent glass substrates by focused femtosecond laser pulses.\ud In this work we demonstrate the integration of femtosecond laser written optical waveguides into a commercial microfluidic chip. We fabricate high quality waveguides intersecting the microchannels at arbitrary positions and use them to optically address with high spatial selectivity their content. In particular, we apply our technique to integrate optical detection in microchip capillary electrophoresis. Waveguides are inscribed at the end of the separation channel in order to optically excite the different plugs reaching that point; fluorescence from the labelled biomolecules crossing the waveguide output is efficiently collected at a 90° angle by a high numerical aperture optical fiber. The sensitivity of the integrated optical detection system was first evaluated filling the chip with a dye solution, obtaining a minimum detectable concentration of 40 pM. \ud After dynamic coating of the microchannels with an EPDMA polymer we demonstrate electrophoresis of an oligonucleotide plug with concentration down to 1 nM and wavelength-selective monitoring of on-chip separation of three fluorescent dyes. Work is in progress on separation and detection of fluorescent-labeled DNA fragments, targeting specific, diagnostically relevant regions of a template DNA, for application to the detection of chromosome aberrations

    Digital detection of exosomes by interferometric imaging

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    Exosomes, which are membranous nanovesicles, are actively released by cells and have been attributed to roles in cell-cell communication, cancer metastasis, and early disease diagnostics. The small size (30–100 nm) along with low refractive index contrast of exosomes makes direct characterization and phenotypical classification very difficult. In this work we present a method based on Single Particle Interferometric Reflectance Imaging Sensor (SP-IRIS) that allows multiplexed phenotyping and digital counting of various populations of individual exosomes (>50 nm) captured on a microarray-based solid phase chip. We demonstrate these characterization concepts using purified exosomes from a HEK 293 cell culture. As a demonstration of clinical utility, we characterize exosomes directly from human cerebrospinal fluid (hCSF). Our interferometric imaging method could capture, from a very small hCSF volume (20 uL), nanoparticles that have a size compatible with exosomes, using antibodies directed against tetraspanins. With this unprecedented capability, we foresee revolutionary implications in the clinical field with improvements in diagnosis and stratification of patients affected by different disorders.This work was supported by Regione Lombardia and Fondazione Cariplo through POR-FESR, project MINER (ID 46875467); Italian Ministry of Health, Ricerca Corrente. This work was partially supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (grant #113E643). (Regione Lombardia; 46875467 - Fondazione Cariplo through POR-FESR, project MINER; Italian Ministry of Health, Ricerca Corrente; 113E643 - Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey)Published versio

    Parameterized Complexity of Asynchronous Border Minimization

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    Microarrays are research tools used in gene discovery as well as disease and cancer diagnostics. Two prominent but challenging problems related to microarrays are the Border Minimization Problem (BMP) and the Border Minimization Problem with given placement (P-BMP). In this paper we investigate the parameterized complexity of natural variants of BMP and P-BMP under several natural parameters. We show that BMP and P-BMP are in FPT under the following two combinations of parameters: 1) the size of the alphabet (c), the maximum length of a sequence (string) in the input (l) and the number of rows of the microarray (r); and, 2) the size of the alphabet and the size of the border length (o). Furthermore, P-BMP is in FPT when parameterized by c and l. We complement our tractability results with corresponding hardness results

    PERANCANGAN ALAT PENJEJAK MATAHARI PADA APLIKASI PEMBANGKIT LISTRIK TENAGA SURYA

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    Penggunaan panel sel surya sebagai sumber energi utama sudah banyak dikembangkan a ikasi industri maupun pada aplikasi rumah tangga. Namun penggunaan panel sel surya tersebut lebih banyak difokuskan sebagai sumber energi terbarukan dan ramah lingkungan. Penelitian-penelitian untuk mengkaji bagaimana mengefisiensikan penggunaan panel surya sebagai surnber energi utama belum banyak dilakukan. Penelitian ini mengkaji bagaimana mengefisiensikan penggunaan panel sel surya melalui rangkaian sistem alat yang disebut alat penjejak matahari. _Alat penjejak matahari yang akan dirancang menggunakan sensor LDR sebagai komponen deteksi arah pergerakan matahari yang dikendalikan secara otomatis oleh mikro konntroller AVR Atmega 2560. Hasil pengujian menunjukkan penggunaan rancangan alat penjajak matahari dapat meningkatkan rata-rata proseniase tegangan keluaran sel surya bisa mencapai 188% bila dibandingkan dengan kondisi sebelum panel sel surya menggunakan sistem alat penjajak matahar

    Real-time polarimetric biosensing using macroporous alumina membranes

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    We report the first demonstration of real-time biosensing in free standing macroporous alumina membranes. The membranes with their 200 nm diameter pores are ideal candidates for biosensing applications where fast response times for small sample volumes are needed as they allow analytes to flow through the pores close to the bioreceptors immobilized on the pores walls. A bulk refractive index sensitivity of 5.2×10-6 refractive index units was obtained from signal responses to different concentrations of NaCl solutions flowing through the pores. Finally, after functionalizing the alumina pore surfaces with an epoxysilane and then spotting it with β-Lactoglobulin protein, the interactions between the β-lactoglobulin and rabbit anti-β-lactoglobulin, as well as the interaction between the rabbit anti-β-lactoglobulin and a secondary antibody anti-rabbit Immunoglobulin G were monitored in real-time

    Real time optical immunosensing with flow-through porous alumina membranes

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    Through the presentation of analytical data from bioassay experiments, measured by polarimetry, we demonstrate for the first time a real time immunoassay within a free standing macroporous alumina membrane. The 200 nm nominal pore diameter of the membrane enables flow-through, thereby providing an ideal fluidic platform for the targeted delivery of analytes to bioreceptors immobilized on the pore walls, enabling fast sensing response times and the use of small sample volumes (<100 μL). For the immunoassay, the pore walls were first coated with the functional copolymer, copoly(DMA-NAS) using a novel coupling process, before immobilization of the allergen protein, β-lactoglobulin, by spotting. The immuno-assay then proceeded with the binding of the primary and secondary antibody cognates, rabbit anti-β-lactoglobulin and anti-rabbit IgG respectively. Through the use of streptavidin coated quantum dots as refractive index signal enhancers, a noise floor for individual measurements of 3.7 ng/mL (25 pM) was obtained, with an overall statistical, or formal assay LOD of 33.7 ng/mL (225 pM), for total assay time below 1 h

    Clickable cellulosic surfaces for peptide-based bioassays

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    The use of peptides in paper-based analytics is a highly appealing field, yet it suffers from severe limitations. This is mostly due to the loss of effective target recognition properties of this relatively small probes upon nonspecific adsorption onto cellulose substrates. Here we address this issue by introducing a simple polymer-based strategy to obtain clickable cellulose surfaces, that we exploited for the chemoselective bioconjugation of peptide bioprobes. Our method largely outperformed standard adsorption-based immobilization strategy in a challenging, real case immunoassay, namely the diagnostic discrimination of Zika + individuals from healthy controls. Of note, the clickable polymeric coating not only allows efficient peptides bioconjugation, but it provides favorable anti-fouling properties to the cellulosic support. We envisage our strategy to broaden the repertoire of cellulosic materials manipulation and promote a renewed interest in peptide-based paper bioassays

    Proof of concept of using a membrane-sensing peptide for sEVs affinity-based isolation

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    Introduction: One main limitation in biomarker studies using EVs is the lack of a suitable isolation method rendering high yield and purity samples in a quick and easily standardized procedure. Here we report an affinity isolation method with a membrane-sensing peptide (MSP) derived from bradykinin. Methods: We designed a protocol based on agarose beads carrying cation chelates to specifically bind to the 6His-tagged membrane-sensing peptide. This approach presents several advantages: 1) cation-carrying agaroses are widely used and standardized for His-tagged protein isolation, 2) the affinity protocol can be performed in small volumes, feasible and manageable for clinical routine and 3) elution with imidazole or EDTA allows a gentle and easy recovery without EV damage, facilitating subsequent characterization and functional analyses. Results: The optimized final procedure incubates 0.5 mg of peptide for 10 min with 10 µL of Long-arm Cobalt agarose before an overnight incubation with concentrated cell conditioned medium. EV downstream analyses can be directly performed on the agarose beads adding lysis or nucleic-acid extraction buffers, or gently eluted with imidazole or EDTA, rendering a fully competent EV preparation. Discussion: This new isolation methodology is based on the recognition of general membrane characteristics independent of surface markers. It is thus unbiased and can be used in any species EV sample, even in samples from animal or plant species against which no suitable antibodies exist. Being an affinity method, the sample handling protocol is very simple, less time-consuming, does not require specialized equipment and can be easily introduced in a clinical automated routine. We demonstrated the high purity and yield of the method in comparison with other commercially available kits. This method can also be scale up or down, with the possibility of analyzing very low amounts of sample, and it is compatible with any downstream analyses thanks to the gentle elution procedureThis work has been supported by grants PID 2020-119627GB-I00 and DTS21/00134 from Ministerio Español de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) from to MY-M. BB is supported by predoctoral industrial contract IND2019_BMD-17100 and JM by a INV-CAM-03 Yo Investigo contract, both from Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. Work was partially funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreements No. 951768 (project MARVEL
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