Surface Engineered Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Generated by Inert Gas Condensation for Biomedical Applications.

Despite the lifesaving medical discoveries of the last century, there is still an urgent need to improve the curative rate and reduce mortality in many fatal diseases such as cancer. One of the main requirements is to find new ways to deliver therapeutics/drugs more efficiently and only to affected tissues/organs. An exciting new technology is nanomaterials which are being widely investigated as potential nanocarriers to achieve localized drug delivery that would improve therapy and reduce adverse drug side effects.

An immunosensor for parasite lactate dehydrogenase detection as a malaria biomarker - Comparison with commercial test kit.

This paper describes the development of an affinity sensor for the detection of Plasmodium falciparum parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) as one of the biomarkers used for malaria detection. The gold sensor was functionalised with anti-pLDH after cleaning the electrode surface to remove impurities (120 °C, 1 h). The sensor was then treated to block unreacted groups on the surface and minimise matrix interference, before applying it in a sandwich assay to detect pLDH in buffer samples using a dose concentration assay.

Development of an Immunosensor for PfHRP 2 as a Biomarker for Malaria Detection.

histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP 2) was selected in this work as the biomarker for the detection and diagnosis of malaria. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was first developed to evaluate the immunoreagent's suitability for the sensor's development. A gold-based sensor with an integrated counter and an Ag/AgCl reference electrode was first selected and characterised and then used to develop the immunosensor for HRP 2, which enables a low cost, easy to use, and sensitive biosensor for malaria diagnosis.