i-sense researchers at UCL and Imperial College London have been working together to understand the chemistry behind nanoparticle-antibody conjugation to improve biomarker detection in point-of-care tests for protein based disease biomarkers.
The work introduced the protein modification expertise of the Chudasama group at UCL into i-sense and coupled it with the extensive knowledge of fluorescent nanoparticles present within the Stevens group at Imperial College London. Additional expertise was sought from the Heeney group at Imperial College London, whose novel fluorescent polymers are being employed as the reporter module for the current work.
The novelty of this project has led to many challenges at the practical level, often necessitating last minute changes and innovative solutions, but has improved our overall understanding of nanoparticle-protein conjugation.
Future work hopes to see further progress in the area and make truly significant improvements to the way researchers attach protein ligands to nanoparticle surfaces.
People: Dr Vijay Chudasama, Dr Daniel Richards, Dr Chris Wood, Dr Mike Thomas, Dr Adam Creamer, Ye Wang, Dr Philip Howes, Joao Nogueira, Professor Martin Heeney, and Professor Molly Stevens
