TY - JOUR A1 - Walter, Astrid A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - A novel immunoreagent for the specific and sensitive detection of the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP) N2 - Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) is a primary explosive, which was used in various terrorist attacks in the past. For the development of biosensors, immunochemical µ-TAS, electronic noses, immunological test kits, or test strips, the availability of antibodies of high quality is crucial. Recently, we presented the successful immunization of mice, based on the design, synthesis, and conjugation of a novel TATP derivative. Here, the long-term immunization of rabbits is shown, which resulted in antibodies of extreme selectivity and more than 1,000 times better affinity in relation to the antibodies from mice. Detection limits below 10 ng L-1 (water) were achieved. The working range covers more than four decades, calculated from a precision profile. The cross-reactivity tests revealed an extraordinary selectivity of the antibodies—not a single compound could be identified as a relevant cross-reactant. The presented immunoreagent might be a major step for the development of highly sensitive and selective TATP detectors particularly for security applications. KW - Organic peroxides KW - Terrorism KW - Biosensor development PY - 2011 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-240291 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/1/3/93 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/bios1030093 SN - 2079-6374 VL - 1 IS - 3 SP - 93 EP - 106 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-24029 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bosc-Bierne, Gaby A1 - Ewald, Shireen A1 - Kreuzer, Oliver J. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Efficient Quality Control of Peptide Pools by UHPLC and Simultaneous UV and HRMS Detection N2 - Peptide pools consist of short amino acid sequences and have proven to be versatile tools in various research areas in immunology and clinical applications. They are commercially available in many different compositions and variants. However, unlike other reagents that consist of only one or a few compounds, peptide pools are highly complex products which makes their quality control a major challenge. Quantitative peptide analysis usually requires sophisticated methods, in most cases isotope-labeled standards and reference materials. Usually, this would be prohibitively laborious and expensive. Therefore, an approach is needed to provide a practical and feasible method for quality control of peptide pools. With insufficient quality control, the use of such products could lead to incorrect experimental results, worsening the well-known reproducibility crisis in the biomedical sciences. Here we propose the use of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with two detectors, a standard UV detector at 214 nm for quantitative analysis and a high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS) for identity confirmation. To be cost-efficient and fast, quantification and identification are performed in one chromatographic run. An optimized protocol is shown, and different peak integration methods are compared and discussed. This work was performed using a peptide pool known as CEF advanced, which consists of 32 peptides derived from cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and influenza virus, ranging from 8 to 12 amino acids in length. N2 - Peptidpools bestehen aus kurzen Aminosäuresequenzen und haben sich als vielseitige Werkzeuge in verschiedenen Forschungsbereichen der Immunologie und bei klinischen Anwendungen erwiesen. Sie sind in vielen verschiedenen Zusammensetzungen und Varianten im Handel erhältlich. Im Gegensatz zu anderen Reagenzien, die nur aus einer oder wenigen Verbindungen bestehen, sind Peptidpools jedoch hochkomplexe Produkte, was ihre Qualitätskontrolle zu einer großen Herausforderung macht. Die quantitative Peptidanalyse erfordert in der Regel ausgefeilte Methoden, in den meisten Fällen isotopenmarkierte Standards und Referenzmaterialien. Dies ist in der Regel sehr aufwändig und teuer. Daher wird ein Ansatz benötigt, der eine praktische und praktikable Methode zur Qualitätskontrolle von Peptidpools bietet. Bei unzureichender Qualitätskontrolle könnte die Verwendung solcher Produkte zu falschen Versuchsergebnissen führen, was das bekannte Problem der Reproduzierbarkeit in den biomedizinischen Wissenschaften noch verschärfen würde. Hier schlagen wir die Verwendung der Ultrahochleistungs-Flüssigkeitschromatographie (UHPLC) mit zwei Detektoren vor, einem Standard-UV-Detektor bei 214 nm für die quantitative Analyse und einem hochauflösenden Massenspektrometer (HRMS) für die Identitätsbestätigung. Um kosteneffizient und schnell zu sein, werden Quantifizierung und Identifizierung in einem einzigen chromatographischen Lauf durchgeführt. Es wird ein optimiertes Protokoll gezeigt, und es werden verschiedene Peak-Integrationsmethoden verglichen und diskutiert. Für diese Arbeit wurde ein Peptidpool verwendet, der als CEF advanced bekannt ist und aus 32 Peptiden besteht, die vom Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr-Virus (EBV) und Influenzavirus stammen und zwischen 8 und 12 Aminosäuren lang sind. KW - Synthetic peptides KW - Quality control KW - Impurites KW - Byproducts KW - Degradation KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Orbitrap PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-602299 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/separations11050156 SN - 2297-8739 VL - 11 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-60229 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 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-527581 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/separations8050056 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 - INPR 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 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-598462 DO - https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.1939.v1 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 - INPR 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 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-529117 DO - https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202103.0298.v1 SN - 2310-287X SP - 1 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-52911 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Janina A1 - Kaufmann, Jan Ole A1 - Weller, Michael T1 - Simple Determination of Affinity Constants of Antibodies by Competitive Immunoassays N2 - The affinity constant, also known as the equilibrium constant, binding constant, equilibrium association constant, or the reciprocal value, the equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd), can be considered as one of the most important characteristics for any antibody–antigen pair. Many methods based on different technologies have been proposed and used to determine this value. However, since a very large number of publications and commercial datasheets do not include this information, significant obstacles in performing such measurements seem to exist. In other cases where such data are reported, the results have often proved to be unreliable. This situation may indicate that most of the technologies available today require a high level of expertise and effort that does not seem to be available in many laboratories. In this paper, we present a simple approach based on standard immunoassay technology that is easy and quick to perform. It relies on the effect that the molar IC50 approaches the Kd value in the case of infinitely small concentrations of the reagents. A two-dimensional dilution of the reagents leads to an asymptotic convergence to Kd. The approach has some similarity to the well-known checkerboard titration used for the optimization of immunoassays. A well-known antibody against the FLAG peptide, clone M2, was used as a model system and the results were compared with other methods. This approach could be used in any case where a competitive assay is available or can be developed. The determination of an affinity constant should belong to the crucial parameters in any quality control of antibody-related products and assays and should be mandatory in papers using immunochemical protocols. N2 - Die Affinitätskonstante, auch bekannt als Gleichgewichtskonstante, Bindungskonstante, Gleichgewichtsassoziationskonstante oder der reziproke Wert, die Gleichgewichtsdissoziationskonstante (Kd), kann als eine der wichtigsten Eigenschaften für jedes Antikörper-Antigen-Paar angesehen werden. Zur Bestimmung dieses Wertes wurden zahlreiche Methoden auf der Grundlage verschiedener Technologien vorgeschlagen und verwendet. Da jedoch eine sehr große Anzahl von Veröffentlichungen und kommerziellen Datenblätter diese Information nicht enthalten, scheint es erhebliche Hindernisse bei der Durchführung solcher Messungen zu geben. In anderen Fällen, in denen solche Daten angegeben werden, haben sich die Ergebnisse häufig als unzuverlässig erwiesen. Diese Situation könnte darauf hindeuten, dass die meisten der heute verfügbaren Technologien ein hohes Maß an Fachwissen und Aufwand erfordern, das in vielen Labors nicht vorhanden zu sein scheint. In diesem Beitrag stellen wir einen einfachen Ansatz vor, der auf der Standard-Immunoassay-Technologie basiert und einfach und schnell durchführbar ist. Er beruht auf dem Effekt, dass sich der molare IC50 bei unendlich kleinen Reagenz-Konzentrationen dem Kd-Wert annähert. Eine zweidimensionale Verdünnung der Reagenzien führt zu einer asymptotischen Konvergenz zu Kd. Der Ansatz hat eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit mit der bekannten Checkerboard-Titration, die zur Optimierung von Immunoassays verwendet wird. Ein bekannter Antikörper gegen das FLAG-Peptid, Klon M2, wurde als Modellsystem verwendet, und die Ergebnisse wurden mit anderen Methoden verglichen. Dieser Ansatz kann überall dort angewendet werden, wo ein kompetitiver Assay verfügbar ist oder entwickelt werden kann. Die Bestimmung einer Affinitätskonstante sollte zu den entscheidenden Parametern bei der Qualitätskontrolle von Antikörperprodukten und -assays gehören und in Arbeiten, die immunchemische Protokolle verwenden, obligatorisch sein. KW - ELISA KW - Competitive immunoassay KW - IC50 KW - Test midpoint KW - Point of inflection KW - Equilibrium constant KW - Dissociation constant KW - Binding strength KW - Antibody antigen complex KW - Bio-interaction KW - SPR KW - Surface-plasmon resonance KW - FLAG peptide KW - Clone M2 KW - Antibody quality PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-605607 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/mps7030049 SN - 2409-9279 VL - 7 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-60560 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schroeder, Barbara A1 - Le Xuan, Hoa A1 - Völzke, Jule L. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Preactivation Crosslinking - An Efficient Method for the Oriented Immobilization of Antibodies N2 - Crosslinking of proteins for their irreversible immobilization on surfaces is a proven and popular method. However, many protocols lead to random orientation and the formation of undefined or even inactive by-products. Most concepts to obtain a more targeted conjugation or immobilization requires the recombinant modification of at least one binding partner, which is often impractical or prohibitively expensive. Here a novel method is presented, which is based on the chemical preactivation of Protein A or G with selected conventional crosslinkers. In a second step, the antibody is added, which is subsequently crosslinked in the Fc part. This leads to an oriented and covalent immobilization of the immunoglobulin with a very high yield. Protocols for Protein A and Protein G with murine and human IgG are presented. This method may be useful for the preparation of columns for affinity chromatography, immunoprecipitation, antibodies conjugated to magnetic particles, permanent and oriented immobilization of antibodies in biosensor systems, microarrays, microtitration plates or any other system, where the loss of antibodies needs to be avoided, and maximum binding capacity is desired. This method is directly applicable even to antibodies in crude cell culture supernatants, raw sera or protein-stabilized antibody preparations without any purification nor enrichment of the IgG. This new method delivered much higher signals as a traditional method and, hence, seems to be preferable in many applications. KW - Antibody coating KW - Proximity-enhanced reaction KW - Immunoglobulins KW - IgG KW - Protein A KW - Protein G KW - Immunoprecipitation KW - Immunocapture KW - Regeneration KW - Biosensor KW - Immunosensor KW - Affinity chromatography KW - Immunoaffinity extraction KW - Oriented immobilization KW - Immunoassay KW - Bioconjugation PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-479786 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/mps2020035 SN - 2409-9279 VL - 2 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Switzerland AN - OPUS4-47978 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - INPR A1 - Schroeder, Barbara A1 - Le Xuan, Hoa A1 - Völzke, Jule L. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Preactivation crosslinking – An efficient method for the oriented immobilization of antibodies N2 - Crosslinking of proteins for their irreversible immobilization on surfaces is a proven and popular method. However, many protocols lead to random orientation and the formation of undefined or even inactive by-products. Most concepts to obtain a more targeted conjugation or immobilization requires the recombinant modification of at least one binding partner, which is often impractical or prohibitively expensive. Here a novel method is presented, which is based on the chemical preactivation of Protein A or G with selected conventional crosslinkers. In a second step, the antibody is added, which is subsequently crosslinked in the Fc part. This leads to an oriented and covalent immobilization of the immunoglobulin with a very high yield. Protocols for Protein A and Protein G with murine and human IgG are presented. This method may be useful for the preparation of columns for affinity chromatography, immunoprecipitation, antibodies conjugated to magnetic particles, permanent and oriented immobilization of antibodies in biosensor systems, microarrays, microtitration plates or any other system, where the loss of antibodies needs to be avoided, and maximum binding capacity is desired. This method is directly applicable even to antibodies in crude cell culture supernatants, raw sera or protein-stabilized antibody preparations without any purification nor enrichment of the IgG. This new method delivered much higher signals as a traditional method and, hence, seems to be preferable in many applications. KW - Antibody coating KW - Proximity-enhanced reaction KW - Immunoglobulins KW - IgG KW - Protein G KW - Protein A KW - Immunoprecipitation KW - Immunocapture KW - Stabilization KW - Biosensor KW - Biochip KW - Microarray KW - ELISA KW - Immunoassay KW - Immunosensor KW - Crosslinker KW - Nanoparticles KW - Click chemistry KW - Herceptin KW - Trastuzumab PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-478797 DO - https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201904.0205.v1 SN - 2310-287X SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-47879 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -