Biomimetic estrogen sensor based on soft colloidal probes

Development of a synthesis strategy for sulfamethoxazole derivatives and their coupling with hydrogel microparticles

“…This work represents a groundwork to develop a biosensor detection technique for sulfonamide antibiotics based on the recently published soft colloidal probe (SCP) principle. Since the Please do not adjust margins Please do not adjust margins introduction of sulfonamide antibiotics in the environment and their resulting accumulation pose a major threat to natural ecosystems and human health, there is a urgent need to monitor their environmental distribution 8,19,24,25,[44][45][46] . Besides their very specific biosensing applications, functional microparticles can also be used in a different context such as pull-down assays or in screenings for unknown binding partners.…”

“…In that way, the size of the contact area correlates with free target analyte molecules in solution, thus enabling the detection and determination of target analytes in a concentration dependent manner. With the SCP assay approach a high sensitivity with a detection range down to 10 -11 M could be shown for detecting the pesticide glyphosate and xenohormones (estrogen derivatives) 24,25 . Furthermore, the SCP assay approach proved to be highly selective by excluding crossreactivity of numerous structurally analogue pesticides and hormones.…”

“…Our work is in agreement with prior works on hydrogel microparticles showing their flexibility and applicability for the coupling of broad spectrum of different analytes. While other works relied on PEG acrylamide particles 24,40,43 we used thiol-maleimide-PEG-particles published earlier by Rettke et al 33 since a thiol-maleimide coupling is stable around pH 7 and compatible with organic buffers such as HEPES, both of which could be necessary for the aspired SCP-Assay for sulfonamide antibiotic detection. Moreover, we investigated, if any of the coupling steps or the solutions necessary for the coupling process affect the structural integrity of the particles (ESI † Fig.…”

“…The SCP assay achieves high sensitivity with the detection range down to 10 À11 M for detecting the pesticide glyphosate and xenohormones (estrogen derivatives). 24,25 Furthermore, the SCP assay approach proved to be highly selective by excluding cross-reactivity of numerous structurally analogue pesticides and hormones. Performing the SCP assay requires hydrogel microparticles functionalized with the target molecule, capable of binding respective immobilized binding partners on a chip.…”

Microfluidics-assisted synthesis and functionalization of monodisperse colloidal hydrogel particles for optomechanical biosensors

“…Equipping SCPs and planar surfaces with molecules of interest permitted various applications ranging from adhesion between whole cells and ligands of cell surface receptors, probing interactions between biomolecules and synthetic polymers as well as biosensing of controversially discussed anthropogenic targets in the environment with pM sensitivity, such as glyphosate and estrogenic compounds. 5–9 Although a broad application potential of the SCP assay has been demonstrated, the current SCP synthesis approach based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) considerably limits further extension into a platform technology. The used batch emulsion precipitation polymerization approach leads to a broad size distribution, which is inherently coupled to limits in sensitivity and multiplexing application, miniaturization and simplification approaches.…”