Browsing by Author "Medintz, Igor L."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Emerging Therapeutic Delivery Capabilities and Challenges Utilizing Enzyme/Protein Packaged Bacterial Vesicles
    (Future Science, 2015-07) Alves, Nathan J.; Turner, Kendrick B.; Medintz, Igor L.; Walker, Scott A.; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    Nanoparticle-based therapeutics are poised to play a critical role in treating disease. These complex multifunctional drug delivery vehicles provide for the passive and active targeted delivery of numerous small molecule, peptide and protein-derived pharmaceuticals. This article will first discuss some of the current state of the art nanoparticle classes (dendrimers, lipid-based, polymeric and inorganic), highlighting benefits/drawbacks associated with their implementation. We will then discuss an emerging class of nanoparticle therapeutics, bacterial outer membrane vesicles, that can provide many of the nanoparticle benefits while simplifying assembly. Through molecular biology techniques; outer membrane vesicle hijacking potentially allows for stringent control over nanoparticle production allowing for targeted protein packaged nanoparticles to be fully synthesized by bacteria.
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    Environmental Decontamination of a Chemical Warfare Simulant Utilizing a Membrane Vesicle-Encapsulated Phosphotriesterase
    (ACS, 2018) Alves, Nathan J.; Moore, Martin; Johnson, Brandy J.; Dean, Scott N.; Turner, Kendrick B.; Medintz, Igor L.; Walper, Scott A.; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    While technologies for the remediation of chemical contaminants continue to emerge, growing interest in green technologies has led researchers to explore natural catalytic mechanisms derived from microbial species. One such method, enzymatic degradation, offers an alternative to harsh chemical catalysts and resins. Recombinant enzymes, however, are often too labile or show limited activity when challenged with nonideal environmental conditions that may vary in salinity, pH, or other physical properties. Here, we demonstrate how phosphotriesterase encapsulated in a bacterial outer membrane vesicle can be used to degrade the organophosphate chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulant paraoxon in environmental water samples. We also carried out remediation assays on solid surfaces, including glass, painted metal, and fabric, that were selected as representative materials, which could potentially be contaminated with a CWA.
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    Printed Graphene Electrochemical Biosensors Fabricated by Inkjet Maskless Lithography for Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Organophosphates
    (ACS, 2018-04-04) Hondred, John A.; Breger, Joyce C.; Alves, Nathan J.; Trammell, Scott A.; Walper, Scott A.; Medintz, Igor L.; Claussen, Jonathan C.; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    Solution phase printing of graphene-based electrodes has recently become an attractive low-cost, scalable manufacturing technique to create in-field electrochemical biosensors. Here, we report a graphene-based electrode developed via inkjet maskless lithography (IML) for the direct and rapid monitoring of triple-O linked phosphonate organophosphates (OPs); these constitute the active compounds found in chemical warfare agents and pesticides that exhibit acute toxicity as well as long-term pollution to soils and waterways. The IML-printed graphene electrode is nano/microstructured with a 1000 mW benchtop laser engraver and electrochemically deposited platinum nanoparticles (dia. ∼25 nm) to improve its electrical conductivity (sheet resistance decreased from ∼10 000 to 100 Ω/sq), surface area, and electroactive nature for subsequent enzyme functionalization and biosensing. The enzyme phosphotriesterase (PTE) was conjugated to the electrode surface via glutaraldehyde cross-linking. The resulting biosensor was able to rapidly measure (5 s response time) the insecticide paraoxon (a model OP) with a low detection limit (3 nM), and high sensitivity (370 nA/μM) with negligible interference from similar nerve agents. Moreover, the biosensor exhibited high reusability (average of 0.3% decrease in sensitivity per sensing event), stability (90% anodic current signal retention over 1000 s), longevity (70% retained sensitivity after 8 weeks), and the ability to selectively sense OP in actual soil and water samples. Hence, this work presents a scalable printed graphene manufacturing technique that can be used to create OP biosensors that are suitable for in-field applications as well as, more generally, for low-cost biosensor test strips that could be incorporated into wearable or disposable sensing paradigms.
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    Protecting enzymatic function through directed packaging into bacterial outer membrane vesicles
    (Nature, 2016-04) Alves, Nathan J.; Turner, Kendrick B.; Medintz, Igor L.; Walper, Scott A.; Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
    Bacteria possess innate machinery to transport extracellular cargo between cells as well as package virulence factors to infect host cells by secreting outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) that contain small molecules, proteins, and genetic material. These robust proteoliposomes have evolved naturally to be resistant to degradation and provide a supportive environment to extend the activity of encapsulated cargo. In this study, we sought to exploit bacterial OMV formation to package and maintain the activity of an enzyme, phosphotriesterase (PTE), under challenging storage conditions encountered for real world applications. Here we show that OMV packaged PTE maintains activity over free PTE when subjected to elevated temperatures (>100-fold more activity after 14 days at 37 °C), iterative freeze-thaw cycles (3.4-fold post four-cycles), and lyophilization (43-fold). We also demonstrate how lyophilized OMV packaged PTE can be utilized as a cell free reagent for long term environmental remediation of pesticide/chemical warfare contaminated areas.