Bioresponsive Nanoparticle Aggregates with medical, environmental and security applications

Profil Titel	Bioresponsive Nanoparticle Aggregates with medical, environmental and security applications
Referenz	10 GB 44O7 3GDS
Herkunftsland	United Kingdom
Kooperationsart	Angebot
Eintrag/Änderung	2010-02-17 / 2011-01-18
Status	Dieses Profil ist abgelaufen! Falls Sie denoch Interesse haben, kontaktieren Sie uns. (2012-01-17)

Kurzfassung

A UK university has developed a novel method for the reversible assembly/disassembly of nanoparticle aggregates which is triggered by enzyme reactions. The system has a wide range of applications from medical diagnostics and drug delivery to detection of bio-warfare agents. The university is looking for partners for licensing or joint further development according to specific needs.

Details

Bioresponsive materials offer a promising commercial opportunity and demonstrate great potential in the medical diagnostics and drug delivery sector. Compared with conventional chemistry, they are more sensitive, simple to use and more compatible with biological samples. Enzymes in patient samples such as blood and urine can be diagnostic of a number of disease conditions including HIV, Hepatitis C, various cancers, as well as Candida and MRSA infections. Hence bioresponsive materials, such as nanoparticle aggregates that can be triggered to switch between assembled/disassembled structures by enzymes, are valuable in developing specific diagnostic tests.

The invention is a novel method for the reversible assembly/disassembly of nanoparticle aggregates which is triggered by enzyme reactions. The nanomaterial consists of a chain of amino acids which can be selected to create specificity for different enzymes. This offers the potential to use the system for a wide range of applications. The enzyme cleaves the amino acid chain and causes disassembly of the nanoparticle aggregates. This is observable through a visible colour change which can also be quantified using a spectrometer.

Innovative Aspects:
• Real-time monitoring of enzyme activity
• High enzyme specificity achievable
• Read-out is rapid – within 5 minutes
• Single population of nanoparticles required
• 1 million times more sensitive than existing diagnostic tests (down to zeptogram/ml detection of enzymes)
• Simple, does not require complex post-processing or sophisticated equipment