Noninvasive Thermal Ablation of Osteomyelitis-Causing Bacteria Using Functionalized Nanoparticles

摘要

During the performance period, we successfully constructed an N- terminal serine to cysteine mutant of PlyCB. This mutant was expressed, purified, reacted with gold nanoparticles and the resulting PlyCB/gold nanoparticle complex was then purified. A fraction of the complex was further conjugated to a fluorescent dye and specific binding of the complex to streptococcal cells, but not non-target cells, was observed by both bright field and fluorescent microscopy. Next, the nanoparticles were exposed to various power settings on an infrared spectrophotometer and showed a measured response to input power. In parallel we tested the viability of streptococcal cells at different temperatures and at different exposure times. Finally, we have cloned a K. pneumococcus binding domain and are making fusions to the C- terminus of PlyCB in order to determine if we can switch specificity of the PlyCB/gold nanoparticle complex toward other pathogens.