Novel biospectroscopy sensor technologies towards environmental health monitoring in urban environments

Distinguishing nuclei-specific benzo[a]pyrene-induced effects from whole-cell alterations in MCF-7 cells using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

“…Using this technique, it is possible to derive a chemical signature of a disease process by directly comparing acquired spectroscopic data from differing biological states because, IR spectra are a holistic reflection of the chemical composition of interrogated samples (Holton et al, 2011). The optimization of biospectroscopy protocols greatly increases the sensitivity and resolution of IR spectroscopy and expands its application (Baker et al, 2014;Obinaju and Martin, 2013;Obinaju et al, 2014).…”

Enhancing agricultural research within West Africa using sensor-based technologies

“…The interrogation of biological specimens using spectrochemical methods of analysis with the aim of acquiring information pertaining to an analyte of interest based on its inherent ability to absorb, reflect, bend, or scatter radiation as a consequence of its chemical bond structure could be defined as biospectroscopy and this method involves focusing the IR beam on a sample (cells or tissue sections), which absorbs the energy detected using methods which measure transmission, reflection or reflectance (Obinaju and Martin, 2013).…”

“…Disease processes are most commonly identified using biochemical pathways within organisms and the evaluation of the unique chemical "fingerprints" (metabolite formation or gene/protein alterations) that specific cellular processes leave behind (Kenny et al, 2005;Mollerup et al, 1999;Welthagen et al, 2005). These fingerprints are considered cellular biomarkers in biological cells and tissue samples, and may indicate exposure to factors capable of initiating or altering cellular processes (Obinaju, 2012;Obinaju and Martin, 2013). Analytical techniques such as chromatography, microscopy or spectroscopy/spectrometry are able to detect these biomarkers within cells or tissue samples (Bi et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2004), using them as indications of biochemical toxicity, initiation and progression of disease conditions or the presence of certain chemicals within given samples.…”

“…However, each sample type requires adequate preparation prior to interrogation. For most spectroscopy, tissue cultures do not necessarily require elaborate preparation prior to interrogation aside from critical steps such as alcohol fixation and deposition on appropriate support matrix depending on technique (Obinaju and Martin, 2013). It is also important that sufficient amounts of material be deposited onto the support matrix to allow an absorbance reading of sufficient intensity .…”

“…Satterthwaite (1993) documents Waller (1991) as having identified urban air contaminants to include smoke/suspended particulates, sulphur dioxide, sulphuric acid, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and some heavy metals. According to Obinaju and Martin (2013), a variety of these listed contaminants are found to be present in soil (Morillo et al, 2007) and water with increased contaminant concentration in most industrial areas (Li et al, 2001;Zhang et al, 2005). There is a vast amount of research on the effects of human exposure to environmental contaminants (Afroz et al, 2003;Brunekreef and Holgate, 2002;Dockery and Pope, 1994;Lin et al, 2007) and an equal amount of research on the effects of environmental contamination on agriculture, e.g., plant disease and plant growth (Das et al, 1997;Heagle et al, 1973).…”