Nanostructured Materials and Their Composites for Biosensing Applications

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanoelectronics, Nanosensors and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 4920

Special Issue Editors

School of Food Science Environmental Health, Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Interests: disease diagnostics and treatment; smart multifunctional molecular imaging nanoprobes; ultrasensitive detection technologies and devices; tumor biomarkers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Interests: my research interests lie in the development of rapid disease diagnosis; healthcare monitoring; and environmental evaluation methods through the use of colorimetric sensor arrays; my works focus on developing novel colorimetric biosensors; the development of sensor arrays for the detection of microbe mixtures; and the emergence of sensor arrays into tissue-like materials for intelligent healthcare monitoring

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nanostructured materials and their composites, used for biosensing, have been used in industrial applications for decades. Sensing via biological moieties has outmoded conventional diagnosis vis à vis processing time, skilled manpower and detection accuracy. Nanomaterials have impelled biological sensing accuracy and robustness comprising lateral flow assays and tunable electrochemical and physico-mechanical responses, due to their versatile shape and size-dependent physical and chemical attributes. To date, the most widely used nanomaterials for biosensing include Au nanoparticles, graphene-based assemblies, carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanoparticles. Steadfast preparation mechanisms and stout surface engineering are mainly responsible for the biosensing suitability of these entities.  Accordingly, this Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers, communications and review articles that focus on the novel manufacturing process of nanostructured materials and their composites for biosensing applications.

Dr. Furong Tian
Dr. Kangze Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • rapid diagnostic test
  • lateral flow assay
  • novel metal nanoparticles
  • graphene
  • magnetic nanoparticles
  • polymer
  • surface functionalization
  • colorimetric biosensors
  • electrochemical biosensors
  • biosensor arrays

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1803 KiB  
Article
Shoe-Integrated Sensor System for Diagnosis of the Concomitant Syndesmotic Injury in Chronic Lateral Ankle Instability: A Prospective Double-Blind Diagnostic Test
by Yanzhang Li, Rui Guo, Yuchen Wang, Jingzhong Ma, Xin Miao, Jie Yang, Zhu Zhang, Xiaoming Wu, Tianling Ren and Dong Jiang
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(9), 1539; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13091539 - 04 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1332
Abstract
Chronic lateral ankle instability (CLAI) is commonly secondary to prior lateral ankle ligament injury, and the concomitant latent syndesmosis injury would prolong recovery time and increase the risk of substantial traumatic arthritis. However, differentiating syndesmotic injury from isolated lateral ankle ligament injury in [...] Read more.
Chronic lateral ankle instability (CLAI) is commonly secondary to prior lateral ankle ligament injury, and the concomitant latent syndesmosis injury would prolong recovery time and increase the risk of substantial traumatic arthritis. However, differentiating syndesmotic injury from isolated lateral ankle ligament injury in CLAI cases is difficult by conventional physical and radiological examinations. To improve the accuracy of syndesmotic injury diagnosis, a shoe-integrated sensor system (SISS) is proposed. This system measures plantar pressure during walking to detect the presence of syndesmotic injury. The study included 27 participants who had ankle sprains and underwent an examination. Plantar pressure in eight regions of interest was measured for both limbs, and syndesmotic injuries were examined using arthroscopy. The width of the syndesmosis was measured to evaluate its severity. The characteristics of plantar pressure were compared between patients with normal and injured syndesmosis. The results indicated that peak plantar pressure ratios with logistic regression predicted value > 0.51 accurately distinguished concomitant syndesmotic injury during walking, with high sensitivity (80%) and specificity (75%). The post-test probability of having a syndesmotic injury was positively 80% and negatively 25%. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of cost-effective wearable sensors in objectively diagnosing concomitant syndesmotic injuries in cases of CLAI. Full article
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15 pages, 3113 KiB  
Article
Surface-Enhanced Raman Analysis of Uric Acid and Hypoxanthine Analysis in Fractionated Bodily Fluids
by Furong Tian, Luis Felipe das Chagas e Silva de Carvalho, Alan Casey, Marcelo Saito Nogueira and Hugh J. Byrne
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(7), 1216; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13071216 - 29 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1371
Abstract
In recent years, the disease burden of hyperuricemia has been increasing, especially in high-income countries and the economically developing world with a Western lifestyle. Abnormal levels of uric acid and hypoxanthine are associated with many diseases, and therefore, to demonstrate improved methods of [...] Read more.
In recent years, the disease burden of hyperuricemia has been increasing, especially in high-income countries and the economically developing world with a Western lifestyle. Abnormal levels of uric acid and hypoxanthine are associated with many diseases, and therefore, to demonstrate improved methods of uric acid and hypoxanthine detection, three different bodily fluids were analysed using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Gold nanostar suspensions were mixed with series dilutions of uric acid and hypoxanthine, 3 kDa centrifugally filtered human blood serum, urine and saliva. The results show that gold nanostars enable the quantitative detection of the concentration of uric acid and hypoxanthine in the range 5–50 μg/mL and 50–250 ng/mL, respectively. The peak areas of HPLC and maximum peak intensity of SERS have strongly correlated, notably with the peaks of uric acid and hypoxanthine at 1000 and 640 cm−1, respectively. The r2 is 0.975 and 0.959 for uric acid and hypoxanthine, respectively. Each of the three body fluids has a number of spectral features in common with uric acid and hypoxanthine. The large overlap of the spectral bands of the SERS of uric acid against three body fluids at spectra peaks were at 442, 712, 802, 1000, 1086, 1206, 1343, 1436 and 1560 cm−1. The features at 560, 640, 803, 1206, 1290 and 1620 cm−1 from hypoxanthine were common to serum, saliva and urine. There is no statistical difference between HPLC and SERS for determination of the concentration of uric acid and hypoxanthine (p > 0.05). For clinical applications, 3 kDa centrifugal filtration followed by SERS can be used for uric acid and hypoxanthine screening is, which can be used to reveal the subtle abnormalities enhancing the great potential of vibrational spectroscopy as an analytical tool. Our work supports the hypnosis that it is possible to obtain the specific concentration of uric acid and hypoxanthine by comparing the SER signals of serum, saliva and urine. In the future, the analysis of other biofluids can be employed to detect biomarkers for the diagnosis of systemic pathologies. Full article
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15 pages, 2590 KiB  
Article
Design and Development of Magnetic Iron Core Gold Nanoparticle-Based Fluorescent Multiplex Assay to Detect Salmonella
by Xinyi Zhao, Gwendoline Smith, Bilal Javed, Garret Dee, Yurii K. Gun’ko, James Curtin, Hugh J. Byrne, Christine O’Connor and Furong Tian
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(21), 3917; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12213917 - 07 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1722
Abstract
Salmonella is a bacterial pathogen which is one of the leading causes of severe illnesses in humans. The current study involved the design and development of two methods, respectively using iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) and iron core gold nanoparticle (ICGNP), conjugated with the [...] Read more.
Salmonella is a bacterial pathogen which is one of the leading causes of severe illnesses in humans. The current study involved the design and development of two methods, respectively using iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) and iron core gold nanoparticle (ICGNP), conjugated with the Salmonella antibody and the fluorophore, 4-Methylumbelliferyl Caprylate (4-MUCAP), used as an indicator, for its selective and sensitive detection in contaminated food products. Twenty double-blind beverage samples, spiked with Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, were prepared in sterile Eppendorf® tubes at room temperature. The gold layer and spikes of ICGNPs increased the surface areas. The ratio of the surface area is 0.76 (IONPs/ICGNPs). The comparative sensitivity and specificity of the IONP-based and the ICGNP-based methods to detect Salmonella were determined. The ICGNP method shows the limit of detection is 32 Salmonella per mL. The ICGNPs had an 83.3% sensitivity and a 92.9% specificity value for the presence and detection of Salmonella. The IONP method resulted in a limit of detection of 150 Salmonella per mL, and a 66.7% sensitivity and 83.3% specificity for the presence and detection of Salmonella. The higher surface area of ICGNPs increases the efficiency of detection. The monitoring of Salmonella can thus be achieved by a rapid magnetic fluorescent assay using a smartphone for image capture and analyze, providing quantitative results. The findings from the present study would help to detect Salmonella rapidly in water. It can improve the microbial quality of water and food safety due to the presence of Salmonella in the water environment. Full article
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12 pages, 2883 KiB  
Article
Hyperbranched Poly(β-amino ester)s (HPAEs) Structure Optimisation for Enhanced Gene Delivery: Non-Ideal Termination Elimination
by Yinghao Li, Zhonglei He, Jing Lyu, Xianqing Wang, Bei Qiu, Irene Lara-Sáez, Jing Zhang, Ming Zeng, Qian Xu, Sigen A, James F. Curtin and Wenxin Wang
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(21), 3892; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12213892 - 04 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2011
Abstract
Many polymeric gene delivery nano-vectors with hyperbranched structures have been demonstrated to be superior to their linear counterparts. The higher delivery efficacy is commonly attributed to the abundant terminal groups of branched polymers, which play critical roles in cargo entrapment, material-cell interaction, and [...] Read more.
Many polymeric gene delivery nano-vectors with hyperbranched structures have been demonstrated to be superior to their linear counterparts. The higher delivery efficacy is commonly attributed to the abundant terminal groups of branched polymers, which play critical roles in cargo entrapment, material-cell interaction, and endosome escape. Hyperbranched poly(β-amino ester)s (HPAEs) have developed as a class of safe and efficient gene delivery vectors. Although numerous research has been conducted to optimise the HPAE structure for gene delivery, the effect of the secondary amine residue on its backbone monomer, which is considered the non-ideal termination, has never been optimised. In this work, the effect of the non-ideal termination was carefully evaluated. Moreover, a series of HPAEs with only ideal terminations were synthesised by adjusting the backbone synthesis strategy to further explore the merits of hyperbranched structures. The HPAE obtained from modified synthesis methods exhibited more than twice the amounts of the ideal terminal groups compared to the conventional ones, determined by NMR. Their transfection performance enhanced significantly, where the optimal HPAE candidates developed in this study outperformed leading commercial benchmarks for DNA delivery, including Lipofectamine 3000, jetPEI, and jetOPTIMUS. Full article
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