Integrated fabrication-conjugation approaches for biomolecular assembly and protein sensing with hybrid microparticle platforms and biofabrication - A focused minireview

摘要

Controlled manufacturing of polymeric hydrogel microparticles is crucial, yet challenging, for rapid and sensitive detection of biomacromolecules in biodiagnostics and biosensing applications. Our approach is an integrated fabrication-conjugation strategy utilizing a simple and robust micromolding technique and biofabrication with a potent aminopolysaccharide chitosan as an efficient conjugation handle for high-yield bioorthogonal conjugation reactions. We present a concise overview of our recent findings in the controlled fabrication of shape-encoded or core-shell structured microparticles consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and short single-stranded (ss) DNA or chitosan, and their utility in the covalent conjugation and nucleic acid hybridization-based assembly of target ssDNAs, proteins and viral nanotemplates. Particularly, two novel routes to achieve substantially improved protein conjugation capacity and kinetics are presented from our recent reports: tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) as a high capacity nanotubular template and polymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS) of pre-polymer droplets for controlled core-shell structure formation. We envision that our fabrication-conjugation approaches reported here, combined with our current and future endeavors in improved fabrication and design of controlled structures with chemical functionalities, should permit a range of manufacturing strategies for advanced functional microscale materials and platforms in a wide array of applications.