TY - JOUR A1 - Stolper, P. A1 - Fabel, S. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Knopp, D. A1 - Niessner, R. T1 - Whole-cell luminescence-based flow-through biodetector for toxicity testing N2 - A new type of biodetector was designed based on a bioluminescence test with the bacterium Vibrio fischeri performed in a liquid continuous flow-through system. Here we describe the modification of a commercial tube luminescence detector to work in the flow mode by building a new flow cell holder and a new case including “top cover” to connect the flow cell with the waste and the incubation capillary in a light-proof manner. As different samples were injected successively it was necessary to keep the individual peaks separated. This was done using an air-segmented flow in the reaction coil. To afford fast screening, the incubation time of the sample and the Vibrio fischeri, which equaled the dead time of the detection system, was set at 5.6 min. Rapid monitoring of toxic substances is achieved by using 20 µL of sample and flow-rates of 110–150 µL min-1. As a proof-of-principle, we show results for the detection of five selected di-, tri- and tetrachlorophenols at different concentrations varying from 1 to 200 mg L-1. Calculation of inhibition rates and EC50 values were performed and compared with corresponding values from the DIN EN ISO 11348-2 microplate format. Compared with the latter, the inhibition rates obtained with our flow-through biodetector for the compounds tested were generally about twofold lower, but importantly, a much faster detection is possible. KW - Biosensor KW - Air-segmented flow KW - Vibrio fischeri KW - Bioluminescence KW - Toxicity test PY - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-007-1770-5 SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 390 IS - 4 SP - 1181 EP - 1187 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-17713 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Walter, Astrid A1 - Pfeifer, Dietmar A1 - Kraus, Werner A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Schneider, Rudolf A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP): Hapten design and development of antibodies N2 - Triacetone triperoxide (TATP), an improvised explosive, is a potential security threat because of its cost-efficient synthesis and the difficulty in detecting it. A highly selective antibody could provide the necessary specificity to the detection process. To obtain antibodies, a hapten made from acetone, hydrogen peroxide, and 7-oxooctanoic acid has been designed, synthesized, and confirmed by NMR that displays the utmost similarity to the analyte. The single-crystal X-ray structures of the solvated species TATP·methanol (1:1) and the TATP derivate were determined. In both compounds, the molecules exhibit D3 symmetry and adopt a twisted boat-chair conformation. The hapten was coupled to bovine serum albumin, and mice were immunized. An immune response against TATP was elicited, and selective antibodies were detected in the mouse serum, which should be very useful for the development of a TATP biosensor system. An ELISA with a limit of detection for TATP of 65 µg L-1 is shown. KW - TATP KW - Triacetone triperoxide KW - Explosive KW - Antibody KW - Hapten immunoassay KW - Structure PY - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/la1018339 SN - 0743-7463 SN - 1520-5827 VL - 26 IS - 19 SP - 15418 EP - 15423 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-22469 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Trennschärfe: Robustheit, Selektivität und Spezifität N2 - Zusammenfassung Selektivität 1. Widersprüchliche Definitionen in unterschiedlichen Bereichen 2. Analytische Definition (pragmatisch): Selektivität ist die Fähigkeit einer Methode zur Unterscheidung aller interessierender Stoffe in der Probe. 3. Tests: Blindwerte, Leerwerte, Blank Values; Peakform 4. Wichtige Einflussgrößen: Trennleistung, Auflösung, Peakkapazität, Trennkapazität 5. Verbesserung durch: Kopplungsverfahren, Änderung der chromatographischen „Selektivität“, Orthogonalität 6. Wichtig ist auch die Komplexität der Probe(n) 7. Selektivität in der Immunchemie/Biochemie wird oft als Kreuzreaktion gemessen. Zusammenfassung Robustheit 1. Sehr individuelle Kriterien – sinnvolle Auswahl notwendig! 2. Wichtige Testphasen: a)Änderung von Methodenparametern b)Stabilität über die Zeit c)Überführung in die Routine 3. Ringversuche bzw. Laborvergleichsmessungen 4. Wichtigstes Vergleichskriterium: Relative Verfahrensstandardabweichung 5. Extratipp: Maximale Diversität der Testproben sicherstellen (besonders bezüglich der Matrix) T2 - BAM Sommerschule 2016 "Qualitätssicherung in der analytischen Chemie" CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 04.07.2016 KW - Selektivität KW - Spezifität KW - Robustheit KW - Sommerschule KW - Blindwert KW - Peakkapazität KW - Kreuzreaktion PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37760 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - The Protocol Gap N2 - Although peer review is considered one of the main pillars of modern science, experimental methods and protocols seem to be not a rigorous subject of this process in many papers. Commercial equipment, test kits, labeling kits, previously published concepts, and standard protocols are often considered to be not worth a detailed description or validation. Even more disturbing is the extremely biased citation behavior in this context, which sometimes leads to surrogate citations to avoid low-impact journals, preprints, or to indicate traditional practices. This article describes some of these surprising habits and suggests some measures to avoid the most unpleasant effects, which in the long term may undermine the credibility of science as a whole. KW - Validation KW - Peer review KW - Experiment KW - Documentation KW - Scientific publication KW - Reproducibility crisis KW - Replication crisis KW - Trust KW - Citation KW - References KW - Surrogate citations KW - Impact PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-521440 SN - 2409-9279 VL - 4 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-52144 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - The mystery of homochirality on earth N2 - Homochirality is an obvious feature of life on Earth. On the other hand, extraterrestrial samples contain largely racemic compounds. The same is true for any common organic synthesis. Therefore, it has been a perplexing puzzle for decades how these racemates could have formed enantiomerically enriched fractions as a basis for the origin of homochiral life forms. Numerous hypotheses have been put forward as to how preferentially homochiral molecules could have formed and accumulated on Earth. In this article, it is shown that homochirality of the abiotic organic pool at the time of formation of the first self-replicating molecules is not necessary and not even probable. It is proposed to abandon the notion of a molecular ensemble and to focus on the level of individual molecules. Although the formation of the first self-replicating, most likely homochiral molecule, is a seemingly improbable event, on a closer look, it is almost inevitable that some homochiral molecules have formed simply on a statistical basis. In this case, the non-selective leap to homochirality would be one of the first steps in chemical evolution directly out of a racemic “ocean”. Moreover, most studies focus on the chirality of the primordial monomers with respect to an asymmetric carbon atom. However, any polymer with a minimal size that allows folding to a secondary structure would spontaneously lead to asymmetric higher structures (conformations). Most of the functions of these polymers would be influenced by this inherently asymmetric folding. Furthermore, a concept of physical compartmentalization based on rock nanopores in analogy to nanocavities of digital immunoassays is introduced to suggest that complex cell walls or membranes were also not required for the first steps of chemical evolution. To summarize, simple and universal mechanisms may have led to homochiral self-replicating systems in the context of chemical evolution. A homochiral monomer pool is deemed unnecessary and probably never existed on primordial Earth. N2 - Homochiralität ist ein offensichtliches Merkmal des Lebens auf der Erde. Andererseits enthalten extraterrestrische Proben überwiegend racemische Verbindungen. Dasselbe gilt für jede gängige organische Synthese. Daher war es jahrzehntelang ein Rätsel, wie diese Racemate enantiomeren-angereicherte Fraktionen als Grundlage für den Ursprung homochiraler Lebensformen bilden konnten. Zahlreiche Hypothesen wurden aufgestellt, wie sich bevorzugt homochirale Moleküle auf der Erde gebildet und angereichert haben könnten. In diesem Artikel wird gezeigt, dass Homochiralität des abiotischen organischen Pools zum Zeitpunkt der Bildung der ersten selbstreplizierenden Moleküle nicht notwendig und nicht einmal wahrscheinlich ist. Es wird vorgeschlagen, die Vorstellung eines molekularen Ensembles aufzugeben und sich auf die Ebene der einzelnen Moleküle zu konzentrieren. Obwohl die Bildung des ersten selbstreplizierenden, höchstwahrscheinlich homochiralen Moleküls ein scheinbar unwahrscheinliches Ereignis ist, ist es bei näherer Betrachtung fast unvermeidlich, dass sich einige homochirale Moleküle einfach auf statistischer Basis gebildet haben. In diesem Fall wäre der nichtselektive Sprung zur Homochiralität einer der ersten Schritte der chemischen Evolution direkt aus einem racemischen "Ozean". Darüber hinaus konzentrieren sich die meisten Studien auf die Chiralität der ursprünglichen Monomere in Bezug auf ein asymmetrisches Kohlenstoffatom. Jedes Polymer mit einer Mindestgröße, die eine Faltung zu einer Sekundärstruktur erlaubt, würde jedoch spontan zu asymmetrischen höheren Strukturen (Konformationen) führen. Die meisten Funktionen dieser Polymere würden durch diese inhärent asymmetrische Faltung beeinflusst. Darüber hinaus wird ein Konzept der physikalischen Kompartimentierung auf der Basis von Gesteinsnanoporen in Analogie zu den Nanokavitäten digitaler Immunoassays vorgestellt, das darauf hindeutet, dass auch für die ersten Schritte der chemischen Evolution keine komplexen Zellwände oder Membranen notwendig waren. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass einfache und universelle Mechanismen zu homochiralen selbstreplizierenden Systemen im Rahmen der chemischen Evolution geführt haben könnten. Ein homochiraler Monomerpool wird als unnötig angesehen, welcher auf der Urerde wahrscheinlich nie existiert hat. KW - Chemical evolution KW - Enantiomeric excess ee KW - Chirality KW - Racemate KW - Folding chirality KW - Self-assembly KW - self-replication KW - Single molecule KW - Prebiotic chemistry KW - Protein folding KW - Peptide folding KW - Proteinoid KW - Conformation KW - Segregation KW - Compartmentalization KW - Digital immunoassay KW - Porous rock KW - Miller and Urey KW - Primordial soup KW - Murchison meteorite KW - Micrometeorites KW - Tholins PY - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-598349 SN - 2075-1729 VL - 14 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-59834 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - The mystery of homochirality on earth N2 - Homochirality is an obvious feature of life on Earth. On the other hand, extraterrestrial samples contain largely racemic compounds. The same is true for any common organic synthesis. Therefore, it has been a perplexing puzzle for decades how these racemates could have formed enantiomerically enriched fractions as a basis for the origin of homochiral life forms. Numerous hypotheses have been put forward as to how preferentially homochiral molecules could have formed and accumulated on Earth. In this article, it is shown that homochirality of the abiotic organic pool at the time of formation of the first self-replicating molecules is not necessary and not even probable. It is proposed to abandon the notion of a molecular ensemble and to focus on the level of individual molecules. Although the formation of the first self-replicating, most likely homochiral molecule is a seemingly improbable event, on a closer look, it is almost inevitable that homochiral molecules have formed simply on a statistical basis. In this case, the non-selective leap to homochirality would be one of the first steps in chemical evolution directly out of a racemic “ocean”. Moreover, most studies focus on the chirality of the primordial monomers with respect to an asymmetric carbon atom. However, any polymer with a minimal size that allows folding to a secondary structure, would spontaneously lead to asymmetric higher structures (conformations). Most of the functions of these polymers would be influenced by this inherently asymmetric folding. To summarize, simple and universal mechanisms may have led to homochiral self-replicating systems in the context of chemical evolution. A homochiral monomer pool is deemed unnecessary and probably never existed on primordial Earth. N2 - Homochiralität ist ein offenkundiges Merkmal des Lebens auf der Erde. Andererseits enthalten extraterrestrische Proben überwiegend racemische Verbindungen. Das Gleiche gilt für jede gängige organische Synthese. Daher war es seit Jahrzehnten ein Rätsel, wie diese Racemate enantiomerenangereicherte Fraktionen als Grundlage für den Ursprung homochiraler Lebensformen bilden konnten. Es wurden zahlreiche Hypothesen darüber formuliert, wie sich bevorzugt homochirale Moleküle auf der Erde gebildet und angereichert haben könnten. In diesem Artikel wird gezeigt, dass die Homochiralität des abiotischen organischen Pools zum Zeitpunkt der Bildung der ersten selbstreplizierenden Moleküle nicht notwendig und nicht einmal wahrscheinlich ist. Es wird vorgeschlagen, die Vorstellung eines molekularen Ensembles aufzugeben und sich auf die Ebene der einzelnen Moleküle zu konzentrieren. Obwohl die Bildung des ersten selbstreplizierenden, vermutlich homochiralen Moleküls ein scheinbar unwahrscheinliches Ereignis ist, ist es bei näherer Betrachtung fast unvermeidlich, dass sich homochirale Moleküle einfach auf statistischer Basis gebildet haben. In diesem Fall wäre der nicht-selektive Sprung zur Homochiralität einer der ersten Schritte der chemischen Evolution direkt aus einem racemischen "Ozean" heraus. Außerdem konzentrieren sich die meisten Studien auf die Chiralität der ursprünglichen Monomere in Bezug auf ein asymmetrisches Kohlenstoffatom. Jedes Polymer mit einer Mindestgröße, die eine Faltung zu einer Sekundärstruktur ermöglicht, würde jedoch spontan zu asymmetrischen höheren Strukturen (Konformationen) führen. Die meisten Funktionen dieser Polymere würden durch diese inhärent asymmetrische Faltung beeinflusst. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass einfache und universelle Mechanismen zu homochiralen selbstreplizierenden Systemen im Rahmen der chemischen Evolution geführt haben könnten. Ein homochiraler Monomerpool wird als unnötig erachtet und hat daher wahrscheinlich auf der Urerde auch nie existiert. KW - Chemical evolution KW - Abiogenesis KW - Chirality KW - Amino acids KW - Peptides KW - Folding chirality PY - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-598462 SN - 2310-287X VL - 14 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-59846 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Ten Basic Rules of Antibody Validation N2 - The quality of research antibodies is an issue for decades. Although several papers have been published to improve the situation, their impact seems to be limited. This publication makes the effort to simplify the description of validation criteria in a way that the occasional antibody user is able to assess the validation level of an immunochemical reagent. A simple, 1-page checklist is supplied for the practical application of these criteria. KW - Replication KW - Reproducibility KW - Documentation KW - Open Science KW - Quality Control KW - Biochemistry KW - Biotechnology KW - Bioanalysis PY - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-444322 UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5813849/ SN - 11773901 VL - 13 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Sage CY - Los Angeles, USA AN - OPUS4-44432 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wilke, Marco A1 - Röder, Bettina A1 - Paul, Martin A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Sintered glass monoliths as supports for affinity columns N2 - A novel stationary phase for affinity separations is presented. This material is based on sintered borosilicate glass readily available as semi-finished filter plates with defined porosity and surface area. The material shows fast binding kinetics and excellent long-term stability under real application conditions due to lacking macropores and high mechanical rigidity. The glass surface can be easily modified with standard organosilane chemistry to immobilize selective binders or other molecules used for biointeraction. In this paper, the manufacturing of the columns and their respective column holders by 3D printing is shown in detail. The model system protein A/IgG was chosen as an example to examine the properties of such monolithic columns under realistic application conditions. Several specifications, such as (dynamic) IgG capacity, pressure stability, long-term performance, productivity, non-specific binding, and peak shape, are presented. It could be shown that due to the very high separation speed, 250 mg antibody per hour and column can be collected, which surpasses the productivity of most standard columns of the same size. The total IgG capacity of the shown columns is around 4 mg (5.5 mg/mL), which is sufficient for most tasks in research laboratories. The cycle time of an IgG separation can be less than 1 min. Due to the glass material’s excellent pressure resistance, these columns are compatible with standard HPLC systems. This is usually not the case with standard affinity columns, limited to manual use or application in low-pressure systems. The use of a standard HPLC system also improves the ability for automation, which enables the purification of hundreds of cell supernatants in one day. The sharp peak shape of the elution leads to an enrichment effect, which might increase the concentration of IgG by a factor of 3. The final concentration of IgG can be around 7.5 mg/mL without the need for an additional nano-filtration step. The purity of the IgG was > 95% in one step and nearly 99% with a second polishing run. KW - Affinity Chromatography KW - Affinity Extraction KW - Affinity Separation KW - Protein Purification KW - Down Stream Processing KW - Antibody Purification KW - Diagnostic Antibodies KW - Therapeutic Antibodies KW - Automated Purification KW - HPLC KW - FPLC KW - IgG determination KW - Concentration step KW - Monoclonal Antibodies KW - Polyclonal Antibodies KW - Human Plasma KW - Glass Support KW - Borosilicate Glass KW - Monolith KW - Sintered Material KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Column holder KW - Construction KW - Open Science KW - Citizen Science KW - Protein A KW - Regeneration KW - High-Speed Separations KW - Robustness PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-527581 SN - 2297-8739 VL - 8 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-52758 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wilke, Marco A1 - Röder, Bettina A1 - Paul, Martin A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Sintered Glass Monoliths as New Supports for Affinity Columns N2 - A novel stationary phase for affinity separations is presented. This material is based on sintered borosilicate glass readily available as semi-finished filter plates with defined porosity and surface area. The material shows fast binding kinetics and excellent long-term stability under real application conditions due to lacking macropores and high mechanical rigidity. The glass surface can be easily modified with standard organosilane chemistry to immobilize selective binders or other molecules used for biointeraction. In this paper, the manufacturing of the columns and their respective column holders by 3D printing is shown in detail. The model system protein A/IgG was chosen as an example to examine the properties of such monolithic columns under realistic application conditions. Several specifications, such as (dynamic) IgG capacity, pressure stability, long-term performance, productivity, non-specific binding, and peak shape, are presented. It could be shown that due to the very high separation speed, 250 mg antibody per hour and column can be collected, which surpasses the productivity of most standard columns of the same size. The total IgG capacity of the shown columns is around 4 mg (5.5 mg/mL), which is sufficient for most tasks in research laboratories. The cycle time of an IgG separation can be less than 1 minute. Due to the glass material's excellent pressure resistance, these columns are compatible with standard HPLC systems. This is usually not the case with standard affinity columns, limited to manual use or application in low-pressure systems. The use of a standard HPLC system also improves the ability for automation, which enables the purification of hundreds of cell supernatants in one day. The sharp peak shape of the elution leads to an enrichment effect, which might increase the concentration of IgG by a factor of 3. The final concentration of IgG can be around 7.5 mg/mL without the need for an additional nanofiltration step. The purity of the IgG was > 95% in one step and nearly 99% with a second polishing run. KW - Affinity Chromatography KW - Glass KW - Purification KW - Antibodies KW - Solid support KW - HPLC KW - FPLC KW - Separation PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-529117 SP - 1 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-52911 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, F. A1 - Reinmuth-Selzle, K. A1 - Lai, S. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Pöschl, U. A1 - Kampf, C. J. T1 - Simultaneous determination of nitrated and oligomerized proteins by size exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to photodiode array detection N2 - Chemical modifications such as nitration and cross-linking may enhance the allergenic potential of proteins. The kinetics and mechanisms of the underlying chemical processes, however, are not yet well understood. Here, we present a size-exclusion chromatography/spectrophotometry method (SEC-HPLC-DAD) that allows a simultaneous detection of mono-, di-, tri-, and higher protein oligomers, as well as their individual nitration degrees (NDs). The ND results of proteins from this new method agree well with the results from an alternative well-established method, for the analysis of tetranitromethane (TNM)- and nitrogen dioxide and ozone (NO2/O3)-nitrated protein samples. Importantly, the NDs for individual oligomer fractions can be obtained from the new method, and also, we provide a proof of principle for the calculation of the concentrations for individual protein oligomer fractions by their determined NDs, which will facilitate the investigation of the kinetics and mechanism for protein tyrosine nitration and cross-linking. KW - Size exclusion chromatography KW - HPLC-DAD KW - Protein nitration degree KW - Protein oligomer analysis KW - Nitrotyrosine KW - Dimer KW - Trimer KW - Oligomer KW - Protein KW - Tetranitromethane KW - BSA KW - Albumin KW - Air pollution KW - Nitrogen oxides PY - 2017 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021967317303795 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2017.03.015 SN - 0021-9673 VL - 1495 SP - 76 EP - 82 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-40304 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -