TY - JOUR A1 - Hesse, Almut A1 - Biyikal, Mustafa A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Development of highly sensitive and selective antibodies for the detection of the explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) by bioisosteric replacement N2 - An improved antibody against the explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) was developed. The immunogen was designed by the concept of bioisosteric replacement, which led to an excellent polyclonal antibody with extreme selectivity and immunoassays of very good sensitivity. Compounds such as nitroglycerine, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, hexogen (RDX), 2,4,6-trinitroaniline, 1,3-dinitrobenzene, octogen (HMX), triacetone triperoxide (TATP), ammonium nitrate, 2,4,6-trinitrophenol and nitrobenzene were tested for potential cross-reactivity. The detection limit of a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was determined to be around 0.5 µg/L. The dynamic range of the assay was found to be between 1 µg/L and 1000 µg/L, covering a concentration range of three decades. This work shows the successful application of the bioisosteric concept in immunochemistry by exchange of a nitroester to a carbonate diester. The antiserum might be used for the development of quick tests, biosensors, microtitration plate immunoassays, microarrays and other analytical methods for the highly sensitive detection of PETN, an explosive frequently used by terrorists, exploiting the extreme difficulty of its detection. KW - bioisosteric replacement KW - immunoassay KW - antibody KW - explosives KW - hapten KW - Semtex KW - ELISA KW - security KW - terrorism PY - 2016 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmr.2511/abstract U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/jmr.2511 SN - 1099-1352 VL - 29 SP - 88 EP - 94 PB - John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. CY - New York, USA AN - OPUS4-35827 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hesse, Almut A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Protein Quantification by Derivatization-Free High-Performance Liquid Chromatography of Aromatic Amino Acids N2 - Amino acid analysis is considered to be the gold standard for quantitative peptide and protein analysis. Here, we would like to propose a simple HPLC/UV method based on a reversed-phase separation of the aromatic amino acids tyrosine (Tyr), phenylalanine (Phe), and optionally tryptophan (Trp) without any derivatization. The hydrolysis of the proteins and peptides was performed by an accelerated microwave technique, which needs only 30 minutes. Two internal standard compounds, homotyrosine (HTyr) and 4-fluorophenylalanine (FPhe) were used for calibration. The limit of detection (LOD) was estimated to be 0.05 µM (~10 µg/L) for tyrosine and phenylalanine at 215 nm. The LOD for a protein determination was calculated to be below 16 mg/L (~300 ng BSA absolute). Aromatic amino acid analysis (AAAA) offers excellent accuracy and a precision of about 5% relative standard deviation, including the hydrolysis step. The method was validated with certified reference materials (CRM) of amino acids and of a pure protein (bovine serum albumin, BSA). AAAA can be used for the quantification of aromatic amino acids, isolated peptides or proteins, complex peptide or protein samples, such as serum or milk powder, and peptides or proteins immobilized on solid supports. KW - Protein analysis KW - Proteomics KW - Peptides KW - Metrology KW - Certified reference materials KW - Amino acid analysis KW - Hydrolysis KW - Microwave KW - Tyrosine KW - Phenylalanine KW - Tryptophan PY - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-370215 SN - 2090-0112 SN - 2090-0104 VL - 2016 SP - Article 7374316, 1 EP - 8 PB - Hindawi CY - Cairo, London, New York AN - OPUS4-37021 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Methods for immunoaffinity extraction – Setup and characterization N2 - Affinity extraction is one of the most powerful separation methods. Regarded to be indispensable in some research fields, such as proteomics, the application in other fields is still scarce or even waning. Many researchers fear the perceived complexity, cost and unreliability of this approach. The presentation gives a broad overview of the most important methods and discusses some important points for their implementation. Having considered these aspects, it should be easier to establish an affinity separation approach to resolve challenging analytical questions. T2 - Seminar des Max-Planck-Instituts für Chemie (MPIC) CY - Mainz, Germany DA - 28.09.2016 KW - affinity chromatography KW - immunoaffinity KW - antibodies KW - sample preparation KW - bioanalysis PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37736 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Antibody quality - a never-ending story? N2 - Deficiencies in research antibody quality lead to economic losses up to several billions of Euros annually. Poorly documented antibody experiments lead to a flood of publications without any chance to be reproduced and without any scientific value.The dominance of antibody specifications in complex analytical procedures is often highly underestimated. Most journals and funding agencies lack the expertise to identify major flaws in antibody experiments and their documentation. Most companies sell insufficiently characterized and documented antibodies. Recombinant antibodies are not the solution for antibody validation. T2 - Seminar des Instituts für Analytische Chemie der Universität Wien CY - Wien, Austria DA - 17.11.2016 KW - Antibodies KW - Reproducibility KW - Crisis KW - Antibody ID PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-38424 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Ramin, Steffen T1 - Antibody-based SAW sensor for the detection of explosives N2 - A robust and sensitive method for the detection of the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) was developed. The detection limit was determined to be around 0.5 µg/L. The fast signal response of less than 1 minute shows that this approach is suitable for security and other time-critcal applications. In addition, the very low cross-reactivity highly reduces the number of false-positives in relation to competing techniques, including sniffer dogs. Due to the multianalyte ability of the SAW system, several explosives might be detected in parallel. T2 - BAM Meeting 2016 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 17.02.2016 KW - TNT KW - Trinitrotoluene KW - Explosives KW - Airport security KW - High-speed biosensor KW - Selectivity KW - Sensitivity KW - Self-assembled monolayer KW - Gold surface KW - Immunosensor KW - Reversibility KW - Inhibition assay KW - Polyethylene glycol KW - PEG PY - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-366265 UR - http://f1000research.com/posters/5-1352 AN - OPUS4-36626 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Quality issues of research antibodies N2 - According to several recent studies, an unexpectedly high number of landmark papers seem to be not reproducible by Independent laboratories. Nontherapeutic antibodies used for research, diagnostic, food analytical, environmental, and other purposes play a significant role in this matter. Although some papers have been published offering suggestions to improve the situation, they do not seem to be comprehensive enough to cover the full complexity of this issue. In addition, no obvious improvements could be noticed in the field as yet. This article tries to consolidate the remarkable variety of conclusions and suggested activities into a more coherent conception. It is concluded that funding agencies and journal publishers need to take first and immediate measures to resolve these problems and lead the way to a more sustainable way of bioanalytical research, on which all can rely with confidence. KW - reproducibility crisis KW - irreproducibility KW - replication KW - paper retraction KW - peer reviewimmunochemistry KW - immunoassay KW - ligand binding assay KW - monoclonal antibody KW - quality control KW - cross-reactivity KW - non-specific binding KW - selectivity PY - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-356254 SN - 1177-3901 VL - 11 SP - 21 EP - 27 PB - Libertas Academica CY - Auckland, New Zealand AN - OPUS4-35625 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Interview with Dr Michael G. Weller N2 - This author interview is by Dr Michael G. Weller, Head of Division 1.5 Protein Analysis at Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM). BAM (www.bam.de/en) is a senior scientific and technical institute with responsibility to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Dr Weller's review paper, Quality issues of research antibodies is available for download in Analytical Chemistry Insights. KW - Antibodies KW - Quality KW - Reproducibility PY - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-392326 UR - http://insights.sagepub.com/la_press_news.php?pa=view&news_item_id=4025 SP - 1 PB - SAGE CY - London AN - OPUS4-39232 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -