GOLD SELEX: a novel SELEX approach for the development of high-affinity aptamers against small molecules without residual activity.

GOLD SELEX, a novel SELEX approach has been developed that obviates the need for target immobilization for aptamer development. The approach purely relies on the affinity of the aptamers towards its target, to get detached from the gold nanoparticle (GNP) surface (weak attraction) after binding with its target. Thus, only the completely detached aptamers are selected for the next round of SELEX. This, in-process, also addresses the issue of residual binding and thus improves the sensitivity of the developed aptamers. As a proof of concept for establishing the utility of the approach for small molecules, we have developed aptamers against dichlorvos (DV), a pesticide in just 8 rounds. Using these aptamer candidates, we have developed an aptamer-NanoZyme (GNP having peroxidase mimic activity) based colorimetric assay. The developed aptamer displayed high affinity (Kd in sub micromolar range) and selectivity for DV. The developed assay could detect as low as 15 µM DV. The best-performing aptamer was also able to work in real samples like river water and commercial apple juice. The GOLD SELEX approach developed in this study, we believe, can act as a template for future SELEX strategy development and can replace the conventional SELEX strategy.

Azurin-TiO2 hybrid nanostructure field effect transistor for efficient ultraviolet detection.

Hybrid semiconductor nanostructures have attracted tremendous response due to their unique properties and applications in nano-optoelectronics and sensors. Here, we fabricated a back-gated transistor based on 300 nm channel of the Azurin-TiO2 hybrid nanostructure, whose enhanced performance is attributed to the synergetic effect of the metal oxide and azurin. Surface potential mapping under the dark and light condition using Kelvin probe force microscopy, gives the perfect correlation of band gap estimation for Azurin, TiO2 and Azurin-TiO2 nanostructures. The extracted parameters of the transistor exhibit the majority carrier mobility of 2.26 cm2 V-1 s-1, Schottky barrier height of 133.56 meV and low off current (6 × 10-10 A). The photodetector showed the high spectral response of 8.7 × 105 A W-1 and detectivity of 6.4 × 1014 Jones for 260 nm wavelength, at an applied gate bias of 5 V. The short carrier transit time (3 µs) and large recombination time (0.4 s) with multiple recirculations of photo generated carries facilitate the high gain of 2.6 × 106. A significant rejection ratio (R 260/R 530) of 56.2 at V GS = 5 V and the linear dynamic range of 45.75 dB for 260 nm wavelength is achieved. The obtained rise and fall time of the photodetector is 0.52 s, and 0.65 s, respectively. This study suggests the applicability of Azurin-TiO2 hybrid nanostructures with high performance for the biocompatible optoelectronic devices.

Smartphone based dual mode in situ detection of viability of bacteria using Ag nanorods array.

The in-situ and rapid detection of live and dead bacteria is essential for human and environmental care. It has become one of the biggest needs in the biological and medical sciences to prevent infectious diseases, which usually occur in hospitals and field clinics. In the current scenario, antibiotic resistance is one of the severe public health problems, which requires a quick and efficient solution. Here, we report a facile sensitive, portable, user-friendly, cost-effective and time saving approach for detection of live, dead and drug-resistant bacteria. The endogenous H2S evolution was targeted to differentiate between live and dead as well as antibiotic resistant bacteria. The silver nanorods (AgNRs) arrays sensors were fabricated by glancing angle deposition technique. The colorimetric and water wettability features of as-synthesized AgNRs are found to be highly sensitive and selective for H2S. E. coli. P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis and S. aureus were used as a model organism in this study. All the bacteria were found to produce H2S by their metabolism process. In order to detect the antibiotic resistant E. coli were grown in the presence of different concentration of ampicillin in Luria broth. A drastic visible change in color as well as wetting of AgNRs array was observed. To make the technique easy, a user-friendly and field deployable mobile app 'Colorimetric Detector' was developed. This technique takes only 4-6 h whereas the conventional methods need around 24 h for the same. This dual mode facile and, inexpensive method can be easily scaled up in the field of diagnostics.

S-Layer Protein for Resistive Switching and Flexible Nonvolatile Memory Device.

In this work, a flexible resistive switching memory device consisting of S-layer protein (Slp) is demonstrated for the first time. This novel device (Al/Slp/indium tin oxide/polyethylene terephthalte) based on a simple and easy fabrication method is capable of bistable switching to low resistive state (LRS) and high resistive state (HRS). This device exhibits bistable memory behavior with stability and a long retention time (>4 × 103 s), being stable up to a 500 cycle endurance test and with significant HRS/LRS ratio. The device possesses consistent switching performance for more than 100 times bending, corresponding to desired applicability for biocompatible wearable electronics. The memory mechanism is attributed to a trapping/de-trapping process in S-layer protein. These promising results of the flexible memory device could find a way in the wearable storage applications like smart bands and sports equipments' sensors.