Rapid Discovery of Illuminating Peptides for Instant Detection of Opioids in Blood and Body Fluids.

The United States is currently experiencing an opioid crisis, with more than 47,000 deaths in 2017 due to opioid overdoses. Current approaches for opioid identification and quantification in body fluids include immunoassays and chromatographic methods (e.g., LC-MS, GC-MS), which require expensive instrumentation and extensive sample preparation. Our aim was to develop a portable point-of-care device that can be used for the instant detection of opioids in body fluids. Here, we reported the development of a morphine-sensitive fluorescence-based sensor chip to sensitively detect morphine in the blood using a homogeneous immunoassay without any washing steps. Morphine-sensitive illuminating peptides were identified using a high throughput one-bead one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial peptide library approach. The OBOC libraries contain a large number of random peptides with a molecular rotor dye, malachite green (MG), that are coupled to the amino group on the side chain of lysine at different positions of the peptides. The OBOC libraries were then screened for fluorescent activation under a confocal microscope, using an anti-morphine monoclonal antibody as the screening probe, in the presence and absence of free morphine. Using this novel three-step fluorescent screening assay, we were able to identify the peptide-beads that fluoresce in the presence of an anti-morphine antibody, but lost fluorescence when the free morphine was present. After the positive beads were decoded using automatic Edman microsequencing, the morphine-sensitive illuminating peptides were then synthesized in soluble form, functionalized with an azido group, and immobilized onto microfabricated PEG-array spots on a glass slide. The sensor chip was then evaluated for the detection of morphine in plasma. We demonstrated that this proof-of-concept platform can be used to develop fluorescence-based sensors against morphine. More importantly, this technology can also be applied to the discovery of other novel illuminating peptidic sensors for the detection of illicit drugs and cancer biomarkers in body fluids.

Discovery of Peptidic Ligands against the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and Their Use in the Development of a Highly Sensitive Personal Use Colorimetric COVID-19 Biosensor.

In addition to efficacious vaccines and antiviral therapeutics, reliable and flexible in-home personal use diagnostics for the detection of viral antigens are needed for effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the approval of several PCR-based and affinity-based in-home COVID-19 testing kits, many of them suffer from problems such as a high false-negative rate, long waiting time, and short storage period. Using the enabling one-bead-one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial technology, several peptidic ligands with a nanomolar binding affinity toward the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S-protein) were successfully discovered. Taking advantage of the high surface area of porous nanofibers, immobilization of these ligands on nanofibrous membranes allows the development of personal use sensors that can achieve low nanomolar sensitivity in the detection of the S-protein in saliva. This simple biosensor employing naked-eye reading exhibits detection sensitivity comparable to some of the current FDA-approved home detection kits. Furthermore, the ligand used in the biosensor was found to detect the S-protein derived from both the original strain and the Delta variant. The workflow reported here may enable us to rapidly respond to the development of home-based biosensors against future viral outbreaks.

Rapid discovery of self-assembling peptides with one-bead one-compound peptide library.

Self-assembling peptides have shown tremendous potential in the fields of material sciences, nanoscience, and medicine. Because of the vast combinatorial space of even short peptides, identification of self-assembling sequences remains a challenge. Herein, we develop an experimental method to rapidly screen a huge array of peptide sequences for self-assembling property, using the one-bead one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial library method. In this approach, peptides on beads are N-terminally capped with nitro-1,2,3-benzoxadiazole, a hydrophobicity-sensitive fluorescence molecule. Beads displaying self-assembling peptides would fluoresce under aqueous environment. Using this approach, we identify eight pentapeptides, all of which are able to self-assemble into nanoparticles or nanofibers. Some of them are able to interact with and are taken up efficiently by HeLa cells. Intracellular distribution varied among these non-toxic peptidic nanoparticles. This simple screening strategy has enabled rapid identification of self-assembling peptides suitable for the development of nanostructures for various biomedical and material applications.