(Press-News.org) A world-first discovery by researchers at Monash University and The University of Queensland could lead to faster and more effective treatments for chronic health complications, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, with 'fluorescent' in vivo biosensors.
The research team, led by Dr Simon Corrie from Monash University's Department of Chemical Engineering and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, took an antibody that binds EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) proteins and engineered it to monitor the concentration of EGFR proteins in serum solutions over time.
Co-authors of the paper, published in ACS Sensors, are Dr Christian Fercher, Dr Martina Jones and Professor Stephen Mahler from The University of Queensland and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.
An inability to detect the growth of EGFR proteins in humans can be associated with the development of a number of tumours, including cancer, as well as the onset of diseases like Alzheimer's.
Using an independent detection mechanism developed by the research team, involving fluorescent dyes, researchers created a biosensor from a well-known antibody that was able to 'read out' changes of the EGFR protein in real-time by monitoring detectable changes in the fluorescence spectra.
The ability to monitor protein biomarker concentrations in body fluids in real-time is invaluable for tracking patients at risk of rapid deterioration, including those requiring personalised drug monitoring or those at high risk of complications arising from critical conditions, like sepsis, heart attack or tumour response to treatment.
No one has been able to engineer an antibody for continuous testing until now.
"All the diagnostic tests that we are familiar with involve sampling something (blood, urine, tissue) at a particular point in time and taking the same to a lab to interrogate it. But for patients suffering from acute conditions, in which time to diagnose and rapid treatment are very important, this traditional diagnostic process is not good enough," Dr Corrie said.
"Monitoring dynamic changes in proteins, for example protein levels increasing or decreasing over time, is likely to provide much more detailed information about a disease or treatment process, but the sensors required to do this don't exist outside of continuous glucose testing for diabetes.
"Our capacity to create antibodies, which bind reversibly to targets and can be 'read out' using fluorescence, means we can develop in vivo sensors. These sensors can monitor the levels of critical biomarkers as they change over time in response to a disease or treatment, rather than just sending a sample to a lab and getting a snapshot in a day or two.
"These biomarkers could include the amount of surface proteins on a cancer cell and whether or not a drug causes them to reduce in size, therefore testing the efficacy of treatment. It can also be used to monitor the concentration of potentially toxic drugs, like some antibiotics."
This discovery was able to engineer an antibody fragment capable of reversibly binding to a protein analyte (scFv) in a chemical solution, while retaining the specificity of the original antibody sequence.
Through their efforts, continuous in vitro monitoring over multiple hours was successfully recorded.
"Work is underway to employ dyes that are much better suited to medical applications," Dr Corrie said.
"In future, we expect that this process will be used to generate a range of biosensors that can monitor protein concentration continuously inside the human body, through a biopharmaceutical process, or in the environment."
INFORMATION:
To download a copy of this research, please visit https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.0c01510
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Leigh Dawson
T: +61 455 368 260 E: media@monash.edu
For more Monash media stories, visit our news and events site
They are among the largest predators ever to walk the Earth, but experts have discovered that some baby tyrannosaurs were only the size of a Border Collie dog when they took their first steps.
The first-known fossils of tyrannosaur embryos have shed light on the early development of the colossal animals, which could grow to 40 feet in length and weigh eight tonnes.
A team of palaeontologists, led by a University of Edinburgh researcher, made the discovery by examining the fossilised remains of a tiny jaw bone and claw unearthed in Canada and the US.
Producing 3D scans of the delicate fragments revealed that they belonged to baby tyrannosaurs ...
Scientists from UNSW Sydney have developed a ceramic-based ink that may allow surgeons in the future to 3D-print bone parts complete with living cells that could be used to repair damaged bone tissue.
Using a 3D-printer that deploys a special ink made up of calcium phosphate, the scientists developed a new technique, known as ceramic omnidirectional bioprinting in cell-suspensions (COBICS), enabling them to print bone-like structures that harden in a matter of minutes when placed in water.
While the idea of 3D-printing bone-mimicking structures is not new, this is the first time such material can be created at room temperature - complete with living cells ...
The carbon footprint of plastic production for initial use is greater than the global warming impact of the entire process used for medical device reprocessing Use of reprocessed devices is environmentally superior to use of original products in 13 of 16 categories evaluatedReprocessing found to advance "circular economy," a key strategy for reaching the UN Sustainability GoalsLCA offers evidence showing that in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and honor the Paris Climate Agreement, EU Member States must opt-in to EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR)'s reprocessing/remanufacturing provisions
[Berlin / Washington, ...
Large-scale production of vegetables and fruit in Spain with intensive plastic consumption in its greenhouse industry is believed to have leaked microplastic contaminants since the 1970s into the surrounding Mediterranean seagrass beds. This is shown in a new study where researchers have succeeded in tracing plastic pollution since the 1930s and 1940s by analyzing seagrass sediments.
About half of Sweden's cucumbers and a fifth of the tomatoes in Sweden are currently imported from Spain according to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. A special area in Spain where large-scale vegetable cultivation ...
Overview:
A research team at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology developed a nanosecond pulse laser-assisted photoporation method using titanium-oxide nanotubes (TNTs) for highly efficient and low-cost intracellular delivery. The proof of concept for the possibility of intracellular delivery after irradiation with nanosecond pulse laser on TNTs was validated. TNTs were formed on titanium sheets using the electrochemical anodization technique at different voltages and times. HeLa - human cervical cancer cells were cultured in the nanotubes and submerged in a solution of biomolecules. After cells were exposed to nanosecond pulse laser, we successfully delivered ...
There isn't much in Kamchatka, a remote peninsula in northeastern Russia just across the Bering Sea from Alaska, besides an impressive population of brown bears and the most explosive volcano in the world.
Kamchatka's Shiveluch volcano has had more than 40 violent eruptions over the last 10,000 years. The last gigantic blast occurred in 1964, creating a new crater and covering an area of nearly 100 square kilometers with pyroclastic flows. But Shiveluch is actually currently erupting, as it has been for over 20 years. So why would anyone risk venturing too close?
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, including Michael Krawczynski, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences and graduate student ...
Abusive bosses may retain their positions by taking superficial steps to repair their social images following outbursts, without acting meaningfully to change their behaviors, according to research led by a University of Wyoming business management expert.
Shawn McClean, an assistant professor in UW's College of Business, joined colleagues from the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Texas A&M University in conducting the research, which appears in the journal Personnel Psychology. Their study also was featured in Harvard Business Review, a preeminent business magazine.
"Our study shows that supervisors are often driven by simply repairing their social image rather than ...
Male breast cancer patients were found to have a high prevalence of cardiovascular conditions, in a small study of this rare patient population presented at the American College of Cardiology's Advancing the Cardiovascular Care of the Oncology Patient Virtual course.
"Due to the rarity of male breast cancer, there is no cardiovascular data from larger clinical trials or population studies. The lack of large data makes it even more important to individualize cardiovascular assessment and management based on each patient's unique oncologic, therapeutic and pre-existing cardiovascular risk profile to support them through cancer treatment into survivorship," said Michael Ibrahim, fourth year ...
PHILADELPHIA, PA - January 25, 2021 - Opertech Bio, Inc., today announced the publication of a seminal research article describing the application of its pioneering TāStation® technology to the pharmacological characterization of human taste discrimination. The findings are published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, JPET.
The paper, entitled "Rapid throughput concentration-response analysis of human taste discrimination," is the first to quantitatively define the concentration-response function for human taste discrimination, a crucial step in understanding ...
In a study of local rivers, experts at the University of Nottingham in the UK have discovered more invertebrates - animals without a backbone, such as insects and snails - living on litter than on rocks.
In urban rivers where there are no better alternatives, litter provided the largest, most stable and complex habitat available for invertebrates to live on.
The findings could have important implications for the management of urban rivers, including how river clean-up events are conducted.
The research team, in the School of Geography, studied three local rivers; the River Leen, Black Brook, and Saffron Brook, in ...
