Reliable and quick detection of antigens
The introduction of advanced biosensor technology has brought dramatic changes in the field of immunodiagnostics and testing. As an example, a newly developed biosensor measures the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) level in the blood for monitoring patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. One of the key components of this biosensor is the surface linking layer, which comprises two-dimensional crystalline protein mono-layers (S-layers) coming from bacterial cell surfaces. The biological S-layers are isolated from bacterial walls and used for the development of nanobiotechnological products. At the transducer surface, PSA specific camel antibody fragments (VHH) are bound to the S-layer protein in a well-controlled, highly organised way displaying increased stability and reproducibility. This innovative design constitutes a unique biological self-assembly system that shows advanced capabilities of re-crystallising on organic surfaces including silicon, glass or gold. Furthermore, this novelty has the potential to become a versatile and robust molecular construction kit for various biological-sensing applications. This is mainly due to the availability of a large variety of functional domains with a specified position and orientation. The S-layer proteins can be smoothly integrated in the fabrication process of micro sensor technology in order to generate the overall micro-Total Analysis System (TAS) modules. For more information click: http://www.imec.be/PAMELA