TY - JOUR A1 - Bell, Jérémy A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Playing with Droplets N2 - Microfluidic devices are powerful analytical tools with appealing features such as miniaturized size, low reagent and sample consumption, rapid response and short measurement times. As society wants to be ever better, earlier and more comprehensively informed about critical factors in life, work, and the environment, the demand for powerful measurement devices for use outside of the laboratory constantly increases. KW - Microfluidics KW - Sensory particles PY - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-459131 UR - https://www.laboratory-journal.com/ VL - 4 SP - 2 EP - 4 PB - Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA CY - Weinheim, Deutschland AN - OPUS4-45913 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beyer, S. A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Zhang, Y. A1 - Verhassel, A. A1 - Sternbæk, L. A1 - Wang, T. A1 - Persson, J. L. A1 - Härkönen, P. A1 - Johansson, E. A1 - Caraballo, R. A1 - Elofsson, M. A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Ohlsson, L. A1 - El-Schich, Z. A1 - Gjörloff Wingren, A. A1 - Stollenwerk, M. M. T1 - Fluorescent Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Layers against Sialic Acid on Silica-coated Polystyrene Cores - Assessment of the Binding Behavior to Cancer Cells N2 - Sialic acid (SA) is a monosaccharide usually linked to the terminus of glycan chains on the cell surface. It plays a crucial role in many biological processes, and hypersialylation is a common feature in cancer. Lectins are widely used to analyze the cell surface expression of SA. However, these protein molecules are usually expensive and easily denatured, which calls for the development of alternative glycan-specific receptors and cell imaging technologies. In this study, SA-imprinted fluorescent core-shell molecularly imprinted polymer particles (SA-MIPs) were employed to recognize SA on the cell surface of cancer cell lines. The SA-MIPs improved suspensibility and scattering properties compared with previously used core-shell SA-MIPs. Although SA-imprinting was performed using SA without preference for the alpha-2,3- and alpha-2,6-SA forms, we screened the cancer cell lines analyzed using the lectins Maackia Amurensis Lectin I (MAL I, alpha-2,3-SA) and Sambucus Nigra Lectin (SNA, alpha-2,6-SA). Our results show that the selected cancer cell lines in this study presented a varied binding behavior with the SA-MIPs. The binding pattern of the lectins was also demonstrated. Moreover, two different pentavalent SA conjugates were used to inhibit the binding of the SA-MIPs to breast, skin, and lung cancer cell lines, demonstrating the specificity of the SA-MIPs in both flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence microscopy. We concluded that the synthesized SA-MIPs might be a powerful future tool in the diagnostic analysis of various cancer cells. KW - Cancer KW - Imprinting KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - SA conjugates KW - Sialic acid PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-546625 SN - 2072-6694 VL - 14 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-54662 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Climent Terol, Estela A1 - Hecht, Mandy A1 - Witthuhn, Heike A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Cover profile for the article "Mix‐&‐read determination of Mercury(II) at trace levels with hybrid mesoporous silica materials incorporating fluorescent probes by a simple mix‐&‐load technique" N2 - Invited for this month’s cover picture is the group of Dr. Knut Rurack at the Department of Analytical Chemistry; Reference Materials at the Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM) in Berlin (Germany). The cover picture shows how differences in color and fluorescence on a test strip can be easily read out with a mobile device. Two reference spots Frame the sensitive spot that indicates the presence of trace amounts of HgII below the threshold in a natural water sample. This dipstick contains a hybrid material that combines boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) probes sterically loaded into specifically tailored mesoporous silica particles, allowing for ultrasensitive HgII detection through enhanced fluorescence in a few seconds. The applicability in real water samples and fish extracts are also studied. KW - Mercury KW - Fluorescence KW - Dip-stick assay KW - Group profile PY - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-471267 SN - 2191-1363 VL - 7 IS - 12 SP - 932 EP - 933 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-47126 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Climent Terol, Estela A1 - Hecht, Mandy A1 - Witthuhn, Heike A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Mix‐&‐read determination of Mercury(II) at trace levels with hybrid mesoporous silica materials incorporating fluorescent probes by a simple mix‐&‐load technique N2 - The synthesis, characterization, and application of mesoporous materials containing boron–dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moieties that allow the sensitive and selective detection of HgII in aqueous environments by fluorescence enhancement is reported. For this purpose, BODIPY dye I containing a thia‐aza crown ether receptor as the fluorescent probe for the detection of HgII in aqueous environments is encapsulated into mesoporous materials to avoid self‐quenching or aggregation in water. Determination of HgII is accomplished within a few seconds with high selectivity and sensitivity, reaching a limit of detection of 12 ppt. The determination of trace amounts of HgII in natural waters and in fish extracts is demonstrated by using our sensing material. The incorporation of the material into several μ‐PAD strips yields a portable, cheap, quick, and easy‐to‐handle tool for trace HgII analysis in water. KW - Dyes/pigments KW - Test strips KW - Mesoporous materials KW - Mercury KW - Fluorescence PY - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-460138 SN - 2191-1363 VL - 7 IS - 12 SP - 957 EP - 968 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-46013 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Costa, Elena A1 - Climent Terol, Estela A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Wan, Wei A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Optimization of analytical assay performance of antibody-gated indicator-releasing mesoporous silica particles N2 - Antibody-gated indicator delivery (gAID) systems based on mesoporous silica nano- and microparticle scaffolds are a promising class of materials for the sensitive chemical detection of small-molecule analytes in simple test formats such as lateral flow assays (LFAs) or microfluidic chips. Their architecture is reminiscent of drug delivery systems, only that reporter molecules instead of drugs are stored in the voids of a porous host particle. In addition, the pores are closed with macromolecular “caps” through a tailored “gatekeeping” recognition chemistry so that the caps are opened when an analyte has reacted with a “gatekeeper”. The subsequent uncapping leads to a release of a large number of indicator molecules, endowing the system with signal amplification features. Particular benefits of such systems are their modularity and adaptability. With the example of the immunochemical detection of type-I pyrethroids by fluorescent dye-releasing gAID systems, the influence of several tuning modes on the optimisation of such hybrid sensory materials is introduced here. In particular, different mesoporous silica supports (from nano- and microparticles to platelets and short fibres), different functionalisation routes and different loading sequences were assessed. The materials’ performances were evaluated by studying their temporal response behaviour and detection sensitivity, including the tightness of pore closure (through the amount of blank release in the absence of analyte) and the release kinetics. Our results indicate that the better the paratope-accommodating Fab region of the antibody “cap” fits into the host material's pore opening, the better the closing/opening mechanism can be controlled. Because such materials are well-suited for LFAs, performance assessment included a test-strip format besides conventional assays in suspension. In combination with dyes as indicators and smartphones for read-out, simple analytical tests for use by untrained personnel directly at a point-of-need such as an aeroplane cabin can be devised, allowing for sensitivities down to the μg kg−1 range in <5 min with case-required selectivities. KW - Antibody-gated indicator delivery KW - Lateral flow assay KW - SBA-15 KW - SBA-16 KW - Type-I pyrethroids KW - Phenothrin KW - Permethrin KW - Etofenprox KW - Amplification KW - Biosensors KW - Immunoassays KW - Mesoporous particles KW - Optical detection PY - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-517053 VL - 8 IS - 22 SP - 4950 EP - 4961 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-51705 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jiang, Shan A1 - Wang, T. A1 - Behren, S. A1 - Westerlind, U. A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Persson, J. L. A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Sialyl-Tn Antigen-Imprinted Dual Fluorescent Core–Shell Nanoparticles for Ratiometric Sialyl-Tn Antigen Detection and Dual-Color Labeling of Cancer Cells N2 - Sialyl-Tn (STn or sialyl-Thomsen-nouveau) is a carbohydrate antigen expressed by more than 80% of human carcinomas. We here report a strategy for ratiometric STn detection and dual-color cancer cell labeling, particularly, by molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Imprinting was based on spectroscopic studies of a urea-containing green-fluorescent monomer 1 and STn-Thr-Na (sodium salt of Neu5Acα2-6GalNAcα-O-Thr). A few-nanometer-thin green-fluorescent polymer shell, in which STn-Thr-Na was imprinted with 1, other comonomers, and a cross-linker, was synthesized from the surface of red-emissive carbon nanodot (R-CND)-doped silica nanoparticles, resulting in dual fluorescent STn-MIPs. Dual-color labeling of cancer cells was achieved since both red and green emissions were detected in two separate channels of the microscope and an improved accuracy was obtained in comparison with single-signal MIPs. The flow cytometric cell analysis showed that the binding of STn-MIPs was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of non-imprinted polymer (NIP) control particles within the same cell line, allowing to distinguish populations. Based on the modularity of the luminescent core–fluorescent MIP shell architecture, the concept can be transferred in a straightforward manner to other target analytes. KW - Cancer KW - Core−shell particles KW - Dual-color labeling glycan KW - Molecular imprinting PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563106 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-56310 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Beyer, S. A1 - El-Schich, Z. A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Gjörloff-Wingren, A. T1 - Imprinted Particles for Direct Fluorescence Detection of Sialic Acid in Polar Media and on Cancer Cells with Enhanced Control of Nonspecific Binding N2 - Glycoproteins are abundant on the cell surface of mammals, providing structural support, modulating cell Membrane properties, and acting as signaling agents. Variation of glycosylation patterns has been found to indicate various disease states, including cell malignancy. Sialic acid (SA) is present as a terminating group on cell-surface glycans, and its overexpression has been linked to several types of cancer. Detection of SA on the cell surface is therefore critical for detection of cancer in its early stages. In this work, a fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer layer targeting SA was synthesized on the surface of silica-coated polystyrene (PS) particles. Compared to previous works, a PS core supplies a lighter, lower-density support for improved suspension stability and scattering properties. Moreover, their smaller size provides a higher surface-area-to-volume ratio for binding. The incorporation of a fluorescent monomer in the MIP shell allowed for simple and rapid determination of binding specificity in polar media due to a deprotonation−reprotonation interaction mechanism between the fluorescent monomer and SA, which led to spectral changes. Upon titration of the MIP particles with SA in suspension, an increase in fluorescence emission of the particles was observed, with the MIP particles binding SA more selectively compared to the nonimprinted polymer (NIP) control particles. In cell staining experiments performed by flow cytometry, the binding behavior of the MIP particles compared favorably with that of SA-binding lectins. NIPs prepared with a “dummy” template served as a better negative control in cell binding assays due to the favorable inward orientation of template-binding functional groups in the polymer shell, which reduced nonspecific binding. The results show that fluorescent MIPs targeting SA are a promising tool for in vitro fluorescence staining of cancerous cells and for future diagnosis of cancer at early stages. KW - Flow cytometry KW - Sialic acid KW - Fluorescence KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - Cancer cells PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-525216 VL - 3 IS - 5 SP - 2363 EP - 2373 PB - American Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-52521 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Kislenko, Evgeniia A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer particles for glyphosate detection using phase transfer agents N2 - In this work, molecular imprinting was combined with direct fluorescence detection of the pesticide Glyphosate (GPS). Firstly, the solubility of highly polar GPS in organic solvents was improved by using lipophilic tetrabutylammonium (TBA+) and tetrahexylammonium (THA+) counterions. Secondly, to achieve fluorescence detection, a fluorescent crosslinker containing urea-binding motifs was used as a probe for GPS-TBA and GPS-THA salts in chloroform, generating stable complexes through hydrogen bond formation. The GPS/fluorescent dye complexes were imprinted into 2–3 nm fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) shells on the surface of sub-micron silica particles using chloroform as porogen. Thus, the MIP binding behavior could be easily evaluated by fluorescence titrations in suspension to monitor the spectral changes upon addition of the GPS analytes. While MIPs prepared with GPS-TBA and GPS-THA both displayed satisfactory imprinting following titration with the corresponding analytes in chloroform, GPS-THA MIPs displayed better selectivity against competing molecules. Moreover, the THA+ counterion was found to be a more powerful phase transfer agent than TBA+ in a biphasic assay, enabling the direct fluorescence detection and quantification of GPS in water. A limit of detection of 1.45 μM and a linear range of 5–55 μM were obtained, which match well with WHO guidelines for the acceptable daily intake of GPS in water (5.32 μM). KW - Glyphosate KW - Molecular imprinting KW - Core-shell particles KW - Fluorescent sensors PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-555281 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited CY - London AN - OPUS4-55528 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Pérez-Padilla, Victor A1 - Valderrey, Virginia A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Red-Emitting Polymerizable Guanidinium Dyes as Fluorescent Probes in Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Glyphosate Detection N2 - The development of methodologies to sense glyphosate has gained momentum due to its toxicological and ecotoxicological effects. In this work, a red-emitting and polymerizable guanidinium benzoxadiazole probe was developed for the fluorescence detection of glyphosate. The interaction of the fluorescent probe and the tetrabutylammonium salt of glyphosate was studied via UV/vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy in chloroform and acetonitrile. The selective recognition of glyphosate was achieved by preparing molecularly imprinted polymers, able to discriminate against other common herbicides such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid (dicamba), as thin layers on submicron silica particles. The limits of detection of 4.8 µM and 0.6 µM were obtained for the sensing of glyphosate in chloroform and acetonitrile, respectively. The reported system shows promise for future application in the sensing of glyphosate through further optimization of the dye and the implementation of a biphasic assay with water/organic solvent mixtures for sensing in aqueous environmental samples. KW - Glyphosate KW - Guanidinium receptors KW - Fluorescent probes KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - Core-shell particles PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-544441 SN - 2227-9040 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-54444 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kislenko, Evgeniia A1 - Incel, A. A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Sellergren, B. A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Towards molecularly imprinted polymers that respond to and capture phosphorylated tyrosine epitopes using fluorescent bis-urea and bis-imidazolium receptors N2 - Early detection of cancer is essential for successful treatment and improvement in patient prognosis. Deregulation of post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins, especially phosphorylation, is present in many types of cancer. Therefore, the development of materials for the rapid sensing of low abundant phosphorylated peptides in biological samples can be of great therapeutic value. In this work, we have synthesised fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymers (fMIPs) for the detection of the phosphorylated tyrosine epitope of ZAP70, a cancer biomarker. The polymers were grafted as nanometer-thin shells from functionalised submicron-sized silica particles using a reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerisation. Employing the combination of fluorescent urea and intrinsically cationic bis-imidazolium receptor cross-linkers, we have developed fluorescent sensory particles, showing an imprinting factor (IF) of 5.0. The imprinted polymer can successfully distinguish between phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated tripeptides, reaching lower micromolar sensitivity in organic solvents and specifically capture unprotected peptide complements in a neutral buffer. Additionally, we have shown the importance of assessing the influence of counterions present in the MIP system on the imprinting process and final material performance. The potential drawbacks of using epitopes with protective groups, which can co-imprint with targeted functionality, are also discussed. KW - Functional monomers KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - Phosphorylated peptides KW - Fluorescence KW - Core-shell particles PY - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-588089 SN - 2050-750X SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-58808 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -