Publications

The SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks highlighted the need for effective, reliable, fast, easy-to-do and cheap diagnostics procedures. We pragmatically experienced that an early positive-case detection, inevitably coupled with a mass vaccination campaign, is a milestone to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can indeed play a crucial role in this context, as their physicochemical, optics and electronics properties are being extensively used in photothermal therapy (PTT), radiation therapy (RT), drug delivery and diagnostic. AuNPs can be synthesized by several approaches to obtain different sizes and shapes that can be easily functionalized with many kinds of molecules such as antibodies, proteins, probes, and lipids. In addition, AuNPs showed high biocompatibility making them useful tool in medicine field. We thus reviewed here the most relevant evidence on AuNPs as effective way to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antigens. We trust future diagnostic efforts must take this 'old-fashioned' nanotechnology tool into consideration for the development and commercialization of reliable and feasible detection kits.

JTD Keywords: Aggregation, Antibodies, Assay, Covid-19, Diagnosis, Enhanced raman-scattering, Gold nanoparticles, Immunoassay, Pandemic disease, Physicochemical properties, Rapid detection, Sars-cov-2, Sensors, Surface-plasmon resonance, Therapy

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. The current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic is indicated by a huge number of infections, high lethality, and rapid spread. These circumstances have stopped the activity of almost the entire world, affecting severely the global economy. A rapid diagnosis of the Covid-19 and a generalized testing protocol is essential to fight against the pandemic and to maintain health control in the population. Principal biosensing and diagnostic technologies used to monitor the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 are based on specific genomic analysis and rapid immune tests, both with different technology platforms that include advantages and disadvantages. Most of the in vitro diagnosis companies are competing to be the first on validating under different regulations their technology for placing their platforms for Covid-19 detection as fast as possible in this big international market. A comprehensive analysis of the commercialized technologies for the genomic based sensing and the antibody/antigen detection methods devoted to Covid-19 diagnosis is described in this review, which have been detailed and listed under different countries regulations. The effectiveness of the described technologies throughout the different stages of the disease and a critical comparison of the emerging technologies in the market to counterattack this pandemic have been discussed.

JTD Keywords: covid-19, in vitro diagnosis (ivd), lateral flow immunoassay, point of care (poc), reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr), sars-cov-2, Covid-19, In vitro diagnosis (ivd), Lateral flow immunoassay, Point of care (poc), Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr), Sars-cov-2

Here we describe the design and evaluation of a fluidic device for the automatic processing of microarrays, called microarray processing station or MPS. The microarray processing station once installed on a commercial microarrayer allows automating the washing, and drying steps, which are often performed manually. The substrate where the assay occurs remains on place during the microarray printing, incubation and processing steps, therefore the addressing of nL volumes of the distinct immunoassay reagents such as capture and detection antibodies and samples can be performed on the same coordinate of the substrate with a perfect alignment without requiring any additional mechanical or optical re-alignment methods. This allows the performance of independent immunoassays in a single microarray spot.

JTD Keywords: Automation, Customization, High-throughput screening, Immunoassays, Microarrays

The excellent self-assembling properties of DNA and the excellent specificity of the antibodies to detect analytes of small molecular weight under competitive conditions have been combined in this study. Three oligonucleotide sequences (N(1)up, N(2)up, and N(3)up) have been covalently attached to three steroidal haptens (8, hG, and 13) of three anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), stanozolol (ST), tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), and boldenone (B), respectively. The synthesis of steroid oligonucleotide conjugates has been performed by the reaction of oligonucleotides carrying amino groups with carboxyl acid derivatives of steroidal haptens. Due to the chemical nature of the steroid derivatives, two methods for coupling the haptens and the ssDNA have been studied: a solid-phase coupling strategy and a solution-phase coupling strategy. Specific antibodies against ST, THG, and B have been used in this study to asses the possibility of using the self-assembling properties of the DNA to prepare biofunctional SPR gold chips based on the immobilization of haptens, by hybridization with the complementary oligonucleotide strands possessing SH groups previously immobilized. The capture of the steroid oligonucleotide conjugates and subsequent binding of the specific antibodies can be monitored on the sensogram due to variations produced on the refractive index on top of the gold chip. The resulting steroid oligonucleotide conjugates retain the hybridization and specific binding properties of oligonucleotides and haptens as demonstrated by thermal denaturation experiments and surface plasmon resonance (SPR).

JTD Keywords: Directed protein immobilization, Plasmon resonance biosensor, Self-assembled monolayers, Label-free, Serum samples, Assay, Immunoassays, Antibodies, Progress, Binding