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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biosensors are nowadays ubiquitous in biomedical diagnosis as well as a wide range of other areas, such as point-of-care monitoring of treatment and disease progression, environmental monitoring, food control, drug discovery, forensics, and biomedical research, forever changing our civilization. They contribute to the identification of threats related to the occurrence of pathogens, such as cancer cells, viruses, bacteria, and many more, allowing for proper diagnosis long before the occurrence of any disease symptoms. Recent progress in this field allows for healthcare monitoring often through wearable sensors capable of detecting complex macromolecular compounds.

The design and development of electrochemical or optoelectronic biosensors is a highly challenging venture. Some of the most critical issues concern the utilization of highly complex composite electrodes, characterized by ambiguous charge transfer kinetics. Next, the anchoring of biological molecules used in the majority of current biosensors, onto either metallic or carbonaceous surfaces, is a particularly demanding aspect of surface synthesis. This procedure cannot be approached by chance, and requires a good understanding as the immobilized biomolecule on the surface of electrode must persistently retain its biological activity in relation to the recognized analyte. High sensitivity, selectivity, and reproducibility are the most demanded features, often offering not only qualitative but also quantitative analysis of target compounds.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue focused on the surface modification of functional nanomaterials applied for biosensing purposes. Full papers, communications, and reviews on functionalization routes, optical and electrochemical methods, functional materials, structure-related properties, and applications for biosensing are all welcome.

Prof. Dr. Jacek Ryl
Dr. Robert Bogdanowicz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

electrochemical sensors
optoelectronic and photonic sensors
surface bio-functionalization
targetable bioreceptors
nanomaterials and nanostructures
medical diagnostics
integrated biosensors and lab-on-a-chip
bioengineering
plasma treatment of surfaces

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 5667 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficient Method for the Concentration Determination of Fmoc Groups Incorporated in the Core-Shell Materials by Fmoc–Glycine

by Elżbieta Szczepańska, Beata Grobelna, Jacek Ryl, Amanda Kulpa, Tadeusz Ossowski and Paweł Niedziałkowski

Molecules 2020, 25(17), 3983; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules25173983 - 01 Sep 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7094

Abstract

In this paper, we described the synthesis procedure of TiO₂@SiO₂ core-shell modified with 3-(aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS). The chemical attachment of Fmoc–glycine (Fmoc–Gly–OH) at the surface of the core-shell structure was performed to determine the amount of active amino groups on the basis of the amount of Fmoc group calculation. We characterized nanostructures using various methods: transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to confirm the modification effectiveness. The ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) measurement was adopted for the quantitative determination of amino groups present on the TiO₂@SiO₂ core-shell surface by determination of Fmoc substitution. The nanomaterials were functionalized by Fmoc–Gly–OH and then the fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) group was cleaved using 20% (v/v) solution of piperidine in DMF. This reaction led to the formation of a dibenzofulvene–piperidine adduct enabling the estimation of free Fmoc groups by measurement the maximum absorption at 289 and 301 nm using UV-vis spectroscopy. The calculations of Fmoc loading on core-shell materials was performed using different molar absorption coefficient: 5800 and 6089 dm³ × mol⁻¹ × cm⁻¹ for λ = 289 nm and both 7800 and 8021 dm³ × mol⁻¹ × cm⁻¹ for λ = 301 nm. The obtained results indicate that amount of Fmoc groups present on TiO₂@SiO₂–(CH₂)₃–NH₂ was calculated at 6 to 9 µmol/g. Furthermore, all measurements were compared with Fmoc–Gly–OH used as the model sample. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Modification of Functional Nanomaterials for Biosensing Purposes)

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Review

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18 pages, 1487 KiB

Open AccessReview

Biosensors-on-Chip: An Up-to-Date Review

by Cristina Chircov, Alexandra Cătălina Bîrcă, Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu and Ecaterina Andronescu

Molecules 2020, 25(24), 6013; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules25246013 - 18 Dec 2020

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4106

Abstract

Generally, biosensors are designed to translate physical, chemical, or biological events into measurable signals, thus offering qualitative and/or quantitative information regarding the target analytes. While the biosensor field has received considerable scientific interest, integrating this technology with microfluidics could further bring significant improvements in terms of sensitivity and specificity, resolution, automation, throughput, reproducibility, reliability, and accuracy. In this manner, biosensors-on-chip (BoC) could represent the bridging gap between diagnostics in central laboratories and diagnostics at the patient bedside, bringing substantial advancements in point-of-care (PoC) diagnostic applications. In this context, the aim of this manuscript is to provide an up-to-date overview of BoC system development and their most recent application towards the diagnosis of cancer, infectious diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Modification of Functional Nanomaterials for Biosensing Purposes)

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