There is an urgent need to understand the behavior of the novel coronavirus
(SARS-COV-2), which is the causative agent of COVID-19, and to develop point-of-care
diagnostics. Here, a glyconanoparticle platform is used to discover that
N
-acetyl neuraminic acid has affinity toward the SARS-COV-2 spike
glycoprotein, demonstrating its glycan-binding function. Optimization of the particle
size and coating enabled detection of the spike glycoprotein in lateral flow and showed
selectivity over the SARS-COV-1 spike protein. Using a virus-like particle and a
pseudotyped lentivirus model, paper-based lateral flow detection was demonstrated in
under 30 min, showing the potential of this system as a low-cost detection platform.
Ice binding proteins
modulate ice nucleation/growth and have huge
(bio)technological potential. There are few synthetic materials that
reproduce their function, and rational design is challenging due to
the outstanding questions about the mechanisms of ice binding, including
whether ice binding is essential to reproduce all their macroscopic
properties. Here we report that nanoparticles obtained by polymerization-induced
self-assembly (PISA) inhibit ice recrystallization (IRI) despite their
constituent polymers having no apparent activity. Poly(ethylene glycol),
poly(dimethylacrylamide), and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) coronas
were all IRI-active when assembled into nanoparticles. Different core-forming
blocks were also screened, revealing the core chemistry had no effect.
These observations show ice binding domains are not essential for
macroscopic IRI activity and suggest that the size, and crowding,
of polymers may increase the IRI activity of “non-active”
polymers. It was also discovered that poly(vinylpyrrolidone)
particles had ice crystal shaping activity, indicating this polymer
can engage ice crystal surfaces, even though on its own it does not
show any appreciable ice recrystallization inhibition. Larger (vesicle)
nanoparticles are shown to have higher ice recrystallization inhibition
activity compared to smaller (sphere) particles, whereas ice nucleation
activity was not found for any material. This shows that assembly
into larger structures can increase IRI activity and that increasing
the “size” of an IRI does not always lead to ice nucleation.
This nanoparticle approach offers a platform toward ice-controlling
soft materials and insight into how IRI activity scales with molecular
size of additives.
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<p>There is an urgent need to understand the behavior of novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2), which is the causative
agent of COVID-19, and to develop point-of-care diagnostics. Here, a glyconanoparticle platform is used to discover that N-acetyl neuraminic acid has high affinity towards the SARS-COV-2 spike glycoprotein, demonstrating its glycan-binding function. Optimization of the particle size and coating enabled detection of the spike glycoprotein in lateral flow and showed
selectivity over the SARS-COV-1 spike protein. Using a viral particle mimic, paper-based lateral flow detection was demonstrated in under 30 minutes showing the potential of this system as a low-cost detection platform.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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