(Press-News.org) A new tool could reduce costs for diagnosing infectious diseases.
Biomedical researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have developed a new, less expensive way to detect nuclease digestion – one of the critical steps in many nucleic acid sensing applications, such as those used to identify COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
A new study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology shows that this low-cost tool, called Subak, is effective at telling when nucleic acid cleavage occurs, which happens when an enzyme called nuclease breaks down nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA, into smaller fragments.
The traditional way of identifying nuclease activity, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) probe, costs 62 times more to produce than the Subak reporter.
“To make diagnostics more accessible to the public, we have to reduce costs,” said Soonwoo Hong, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Tim Yeh, associate professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, who led the work. “Any improvements in nucleic acid detection will strengthen our testing infrastructure and make it easier to widely detect diseases like COVID-19.”
The research team – which also included Jennifer Brodbelt, professor of chemistry at UT Austin's College of Natural Sciences, and MinJun Kim, professor of mechanical engineering in Southern Methodist University’s Lyle School of Engineering – replaced the traditional FRET probe with Subak reporter in a test called DETECTR (DNA endonuclease-targeted CRISPR trans reporter).
Subak reporters are based on a special class of fluorescent nanomaterials known as silver nanoclusters. They are made up of 13 silver atoms wrapped inside a short DNA strand. This organic/inorganic composite nanomaterial is too small to be visible to the naked eye and ranging from 1 to 3 nanometers (one billionth of a meter) in size.
Nanomaterials at this length scale, such as semiconductor quantum dots, can be highly luminescent and exhibit different colors. Fluorescent nanomaterials have found applications in TV displays and biosensing, such as the Subak reporters.
“We have very clear evidence from mass spectrometry that transformation from Ag13 to Ag10 underlines the green to red color conversion observed in the sample, after DNA template digestion,” Brodbelt said.
Subak reporters, which can be synthesized at room temperature in a single-pot reaction, cost just $1 per nanomole to make. In contrast, FRET probe – which employs complex steps to label a donor dye and a quencher – costs $62 per nanomole to produce.
“These highly luminescent silver nanoclusters can be called quantum dots as they show strong size-tunable fluorescence emission due to quantum confinement effect,” Yeh said. “No one can precisely tune the cluster size (and the corresponding emission color) until our demonstration of Subak,” which highlights the innovation of this research.
In addition to further testing the Subak reporter for nuclease digestion, the team also wants to investigate whether it can be a probe for other biological targets.
The work is supported by a National Science Foundation grant to Yeh and Brodbelt.
END
New disease testing component facilitates lower-cost diagnostics
2024-02-27
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
White House includes two Tufts-related initiatives in commitments to end hunger, reduce diet-related disease
2024-02-27
Two Tufts-related initiatives have been included in the White House’s new round of public and private sector commitments, announced today by the Biden-Harris administration, to end hunger, improve nutrition, and reduce diet-related disease in the United States by 2030. The White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities continues the Biden-Harris administration’s work started at the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that was held in September 2022, encouraging stakeholders from all corners to develop bold commitments to help achieve the administration’s five key pillars of national ...
U of M-led research identifies predictor of outcomes, chemoresistance for ovarian cancer patients
2024-02-27
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (2/27/2024) — In a major scientific breakthrough, newly published research from an international consortium led by the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center has the potential to transform the landscape of ovarian cancer treatment.
Published today in JAMA Network Open, the findings indicate that ovarian cancer patients with high levels of stroma within their tumors are twice as likely to exhibit chemoresistance to the conventional standard of care. Stroma is the non-cancerous tissue that provides support to tumors.
The ...
NRG Oncology announces new leadership of Canadian Members Subcommittee
2024-02-27
NRG Oncology, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) group focused on improving outcomes for adults with cancer through multi-center clinical research, recently announced a new Chair and Vice Chair of the organization’s Canadian Members Subcommittee.
The NRG Canadian Members Subcommittee is tasked with engaging and supporting NRG’s Canadian member institutions through their participation in NRG research. This subcommittee was created to tackle the unique regulatory, administrative, and ...
Bariatric surgery provides long-term blood glucose control, type 2 diabetes remission
2024-02-27
BATON ROUGE – People with type 2 diabetes who underwent bariatric surgery achieved much better long-term blood glucose control compared to people who received medical management plus lifestyle interventions, according to a new study published in JAMA, or Journal of the American Medical Association, and funded by the National institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of The National Institutes of Health.
In addition, participants who underwent bariatric surgery, also called metabolic or weight-loss surgery, were more likely to stop needing diabetes medications and had higher rates of diabetes remission up to 12 years post-surgery. ...
The anti-aging effect of vitamin D and vitamin D receptor in Drosophila midgut
2024-02-27
“Our study demonstrated that the VitD/VDR [vitamin D/vitamin D receptor] pathway is required for intestinal homeostasis during normal differentiation and aging.”
BUFFALO, NY- February 27, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 16, Issue 3, entitled, “The anti-aging effect of vitamin D and vitamin D receptor in Drosophila midgut.”
Adult stem cells are pivotal for maintaining tissue homeostasis, and their functional ...
You may be breathing in more tiny nanoparticles from your gas stove than from car exhaust
2024-02-27
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Cooking on your gas stove can emit more nano-sized particles into the air than vehicles that run on gas or diesel, possibly increasing your risk of developing asthma or other respiratory illnesses, a new Purdue University study has found.
“Combustion remains a source of air pollution across the world, both indoors and outdoors. We found that cooking on your gas stove produces large amounts of small nanoparticles that get into your respiratory system and deposit efficiently,” said Brandon Boor, an associate professor in Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering, who led this research.
Based on these ...
NREL-led workshop points to path for clean energy future
2024-02-27
Participants in a workshop organized by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) agree on the importance of mitigating degradation rates for the continuing rollout of clean technologies.
Renewable energy is forecast to play an expanded role in meeting future needs, with terawatts of electricity expected to be generated from wind and solar, so the performance of the technologies involved is becoming increasingly important. Any technology degrades over time, so researchers are looking at ways to curb this issue. Mitigating degradation will become a factor ...
Teens benefit from "forest bathing" – even in cities
2024-02-27
Youth mental health in urban environments is significantly better when more nature is incorporated into city design.
A new study from University of Waterloo researchers suggests that forest bathing, the simple method of being calm and quiet amongst the trees, observing nature around you while breathing deeply, can help youth de-stress and boost health and well-being.
The study was the first ever to collect on-site, real-time survey data from adolescents about their emotional responses to various urban environments like a transit hub, residential ...
Psychological science professor receives prestigious CAREER Award
2024-02-27
The National Science Foundation awarded Grant Shields, assistant professor of psychological science at the U of A, with a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development award to support his research on the cognitive mechanisms and processes underlying inhibitory control under stress.
Inhibitory control is the means by which automatic urges, emotions and behaviors, like wanting to tell your boss what you really think about being asked to work Saturday, are controlled to produce (ideally) better outcomes (yes, you’ll work Saturday because the need for a paycheck outweighs the desire ...
Research lessons to inform future CAP reform
2024-02-27
On February 7, 2024, BESTMAP marked the end of the four-year project with a significant Final Dissemination Event in Brussels, Belgium. Titled "Research Lessons to Inform Future CAP Reform," the event was coordinated by project partners - RISE Foundation in collaboration with BESTMAP's sister projects within the AGRIMODELS cluster, all under the Forum for the Future of Agriculture initiative.
The event addressed concerns about the ongoing decline of biodiversity in Europe and the unmet environmental goals despite annual spending of €12.1 billion on environmentally oriented measures within the CAP. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plays a crucial role ...