“Boosting biomolecular interactions through DNA origami nano-tailored biosensing interfaces”. Rutten I, Daems D, Lammertyn J, Journal Of Materials Chemistry B 8, 3606 (2020). http://doi.org/10.1039/C9TB02439E
Abstract: The interaction between a bioreceptor and its target is key in developing sensitive, specific and robust diagnostic devices. Suboptimal interbioreceptor distances and bioreceptor orientation on the sensor surface, resulting from uncontrolled deposition, impede biomolecular interactions and lead to a decreased biosensor performance. In this work, we studied and implemented a 3D DNA origami design, for the first time comprised of assay specifically tailored anchoring points for the nanostructuring of the bioreceptor layer on the surface of disc-shaped microparticles in the continuous microfluidic environment of the innovative EvalutionTM platform. This bioreceptor immobilization strategy resulted in the formation of a less densely packed surface with reduced steric hindrance and favoured upward orientation. This increased bioreceptor accessibility led to a 4-fold enhanced binding kinetics and a 6-fold increase in binding efficiency compared to a directly immobilized non-DNA origami reference system. Moreover, the DNA origami nanotailored biosensing concept outperformed traditional aptamer coupling with respect to limit of detection (11 × improved) and signal-to-noise ratio (2.5 × improved) in an aptamer-based sandwich bioassay. In conclusion, our results highlight the potential of these DNA origami nanotailored surfaces to improve biomolecular interactions at the sensing surface, thereby increasing the overall performance of biosensing devices. The combination of the intrinsic advantages of DNA origami together with a smart design enables bottom-up nanoscale engineering of the sensor surface, leading towards the next generation of improved diagnostic sensing devices.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation)
Impact Factor: 7
Times cited: 2
DOI: 10.1039/C9TB02439E
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“Controlling the bioreceptor spatial distribution at the nanoscale for single molecule counting in microwell arrays”. Daems D, Rutten I, Bath J, Decrop D, Van Gorp H, Pérez Ruiz E, De Feyter S, Turberfield AJ, Lammertyn J, ACS sensors 4, 2327 (2019). http://doi.org/10.1021/ACSSENSORS.9B00877
Abstract: The ability to detect low concentrations of protein biomarkers is crucial for the early-stage detection of many diseases and therefore indispensable for improving diagnostic devices for healthcare. Here, we demonstrate that by integrating DNA nanotechnologies like DNA origami and aptamers, we can design innovative biosensing concepts for reproducible and sensitive detection of specific targets. DNA origami structures decorated with aptamers were studied as a novel tool to structure the biosensor surface with nanoscale precision in a digital detection bioassay, enabling control of the density, orientation, and accessibility of the bioreceptor to optimize the interaction between target and aptamer. DNA origami was used to control the spatial distribution of an in-house-generated aptamer on superparamagnetic microparticles, resulting in an origami-linked digital aptamer bioassay to detect the main peanut antigen Ara h1 with 2-fold improved signal-to-noise ratio and 15-fold improved limit of detection compared to a digital bioassay without DNA origami. Moreover, the sensitivity achieved was 4 orders of magnitude higher than commercially available and literature-reported enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques. In conclusion, this novel and innovative approach to engineer biosensing interfaces will be of major interest to scientists and clinicians looking for new molecular insights and ultrasensitive detection of a broad range of targets, and, for the next generation of diagnostics.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation)
DOI: 10.1021/ACSSENSORS.9B00877
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“PCR amplified DNAzyme-amplicons for generic solid-phase antimicrobial resistance screening”. Peeters B, Safdar S, Carlier B, Spasic D, Daems D, Lammertyn J, , 971 (2019)
Abstract: Fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (FO-SPR) has shown its potential for the detection of nucleic acids and more recently the technology has been combined with catalytic active strands such as DNAzymes. In this work, an innovative, generic solid-phase DNA sensor concept is presented, based on FO-SPR and PCR amplified DNAzyme activity. Improved levels of specificity and sensitivity were obtained down to picomolar concentrations. Moreover, the FO-SPR sensor concept enables AuNP amplified DNA target detection, independent of the target sequence length. The FO-SPR sensor was demonstrated for the screening of the mobile colistin resistance (MCR-2) gene, a gene important for the antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative species such as E. Coli.
Keywords: P1 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation)
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“Unraveling the effect of the aptamer complementary element on the performance of duplexed aptamers : a thermodynamic study”. Dillen A, Vandezande W, Daems D, Lammertyn J, Analytical And Bioanalytical Chemistry 413, 4739 (2021). http://doi.org/10.1007/S00216-021-03444-Y
Abstract: Duplexed aptamers (DAs) are widespread aptasensor formats that simultaneously recognize and signal the concentration of target molecules. They are composed of an aptamer and aptamer complementary element (ACE) which consists of a short oligonucleotide that partially inhibits the aptamer sequence. Although the design principles to engineer DAs are straightforward, the tailored development of DAs for a particular target is currently based on trial and error due to limited knowledge of how the ACE sequence affects the final performance of DA biosensors. Therefore, we have established a thermodynamic model describing the influence of the ACE on the performance of DAs applied in equilibrium assays and demonstrated that this relationship can be described by the binding strength between the aptamer and ACE. To validate our theoretical findings, the model was applied to the 29-mer anti-thrombin aptamer as a case study, and an experimental relation between the aptamer-ACE binding strength and performance of DAs was established. The obtained results indicated that our proposed model could accurately describe the effect of the ACE sequence on the performance of the established DAs for thrombin detection, applied for equilibrium assays. Furthermore, to characterize the binding strength between the aptamer and ACEs evaluated in this work, a set of fitting equations was derived which enables thermodynamic characterization of DNA-based interactions through thermal denaturation experiments, thereby overcoming the limitations of current predictive software and chemical denaturation experiments. Altogether, this work encourages the development, characterization, and use of DAs in the field of biosensing.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation)
Impact Factor: 3.431
DOI: 10.1007/S00216-021-03444-Y
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“Real-time FO-SPR monitoring of solid-phase DNAzyme cleavage activity for cutting-edge biosensing”. Peeters B, Daems D, Van der Donck T, Delport F, Lammertyn J, ACS applied materials and interfaces 11, 6759 (2019). http://doi.org/10.1021/ACSAMI.8B18756
Abstract: DNA nanotechnology has a great potential in biosensor design including nanostructuring of the biosensor surface through DNA origami, target recognition by means of aptamers, and DNA-based signal amplification strategies. In this paper, we use DNA nanotechnology to describe for the first time the concept of real-time solid-phase monitoring of DNAzyme cleavage activity for the detection of specific single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) with a fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (FO-SPR) biosensor. Hereto, we first developed a robust ligation strategy for the functionalization of the FO-SPR biosensing surface with ssDNA-tethered gold nanoparticles, serving as the substrate for the DNAzyme. Next, we established a relation between the SPR signal change, due to the cleavage activity of the 10–23 DNAzyme, and the concentration of the DNAzyme, showing faster cleavage kinetics for higher DNAzyme concentrations. Finally, we implemented this generic concept for biosensing of ssDNA target in solution. Hereto, we designed a DNAzyme–inhibitor complex, consisting of an internal loop structure complementary to the ssDNA target, that releases active DNAzyme molecules in a controlled way as a function of the target concentration. We demonstrated reproducible target detection with a theoretical limit of detection of 1.4 nM, proving that the presented ligation strategy is key to a universal DNAzyme-based FO-SPR biosensing concept with promising applications in the medical and agrofood sector.
Keywords: A1 Journal article; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation)
DOI: 10.1021/ACSAMI.8B18756
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“A DNA nanotechnology toolbox for mix-and-match biosensor design”. Rutten I, Safdar S, Ven K, Daems D, Spasic D, Lammertyn J, (2019)
Keywords: P3 Proceeding; Engineering sciences. Technology; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation)
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