POROSENS · Highly Functional Porous Materials for Bio-Diagnostic Sensors

Highly functional porous materials for bio-diagnostic sensors

The general aim of this project is the development of an easy-to-produce and inexpensive material platform that can be used in the separation of biomolecules such as biological drugs. The latter are considered by the biopharmaceutical industry as the next-generation drugs with high market potential and efficacy in the treatment of various diseases. One of the most costly steps is the selective separation of the active biologic drug components from the production medium. An ideal separation platform should be readily and consistently producible and offer possibilities of integration into (disposable) separation and / or diagnostic devices. To achieve this, we investigate porous polymeric monoliths based on high-internal phase emulsions (polyHIPE). These materials combine high-surface area with excellent mass transport properties. Essential to opening new polyHIPE application areas in biosensing and bioseparation is the ability to conveniently functionalise and (bio)conjugate polyHIPE surfaces. A promising approach to modify polyHIPEs with a high density of functional groups is the grafting of functional polymers from the polyHIPE surface thereby essentially coating the surface of the pores with multiple anchor points for biomolecules like proteins. We have developed two types of functional polyHIPE surfaces, one based on natural amino acid building blocks and a second one on commercial acrylic materials. In both cases, polymers are grown directly from the surface of the monolith. The success of this approach was directly observed by spectroscopic methods and can be visualised by electron microscopy. These functional porous monoliths were used for the attachment (conjugation) of model biomolecules, so-called green fluorescent proteins. The proteins are green in colour and allow the direct visualisation of the conjugation. With the protocol developed, the conjugation was successful. This opens opportunities for the development of a new bioseparation material platform, and currently two issues are addressed in follow-up projects, namely the development of a simplified and cost-efficient protocol for the production of functional polyHIPE and the replacement of the model proteins with biomolecules relevant for commercial biosepration. In summary, the work carried out under this Marie Curie project opened new opportunities which are further pursued in collaboration with the Irish Separation Science Cluster including their industrial partners under the lead of the Marie Curie fellow.

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