Various extracts of the brown seaweed Cystoseira barbata with different compositions exert biostimulant effects on seedling growth of wheat.

Worldwide, where the demand for novel and greener solutions for sustainable agricultural production is increasing, the use of eco-friendly products such as seaweed-derived biostimulants as pre-sowing treatment represent a promising and important approach for the future. Cystoseira barbata, a brown seaweed species abundant in the Mediterranean Region, was collected from the Marmara Sea and subjected to water, alkali, and acidic extractions, and the biostimulant activity of these extracts was tested on wheat (Triticum durum cv. Saricanak-98) using different rates through application to the seeds or germination medium (substrate) applications.

A guide to the use of bioassays in exploration of natural resources.

Bioassays are the main tool to decipher bioactivities from natural resources thus their selection and quality are critical for optimal bioprospecting. They are used both in the early stages of compounds isolation/purification/identification, and in later stages to evaluate their safety and efficacy. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the most common bioassays used in the discovery and development of new bioactive compounds with a focus on marine bioresources.

Advanced Methods for Natural Products Discovery: Bioactivity Screening, Dereplication, Metabolomics Profiling, Genomic Sequencing, Databases and Informatic Tools, and Structure Elucidation.

Natural Products (NP) are essential for the discovery of novel drugs and products for numerous biotechnological applications. The NP discovery process is expensive and time-consuming, having as major hurdles dereplication (early identification of known compounds) and structure elucidation, particularly the determination of the absolute configuration of metabolites with stereogenic centers. This review comprehensively focuses on recent technological and instrumental advances, highlighting the development of methods that alleviate these obstacles, paving the way for accelerating NP discovery towards biotechnological applications.

Purification of Fab and Fc using papain immobilized cryogel bioreactor separator system.

The continuous bed bioreactor systems have been used for the production of protein therapeutics, such as IgG, using immobilized enzyme in biopharmaceutical applications. We developed macroporous poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate) cryogel-based bioreactor matrix using sodium dodecyl sulfate as surfactans in the presence of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross linking agent by bulk polymerization. The developed polyGMA immobilized bioreactor with papain enzyme was used for specific fragmentation of immunoglobulin G.

Multiclonal plastic antibodies for selective aflatoxin extraction from food samples.

Herein, we focused on developing a new generation of monolithic columns for extracting aflatoxin from real food samples by combining the superior features of molecularly imprinted polymers and cryogels. To accomplish this, we designed multiclonal plastic antibodies through simultaneous imprinting of aflatoxin subtypes B1, B2, G1, and G2. We applied Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and spectrofluorimetry to characterize the materials, and conducted selectivity studies using ochratoxin A and aflatoxin M1 (a metabolite of aflatoxin B1), as well as other aflatoxins, under competitive conditions.

Aspartic acid incorporated monolithic columns for affinity glycoprotein purification.

Novel aspartic acid incorporated monolithic columns were prepared to efficiently affinity purify immunoglobulin G (IgG) from human plasma. The monolithic columns were synthesised in a stainless steel HPLC column (20 cm × 5 mm id) by in situ bulk polymerisation of N-methacryloyl-L-aspartic acid (MAAsp), a polymerisable derivative of L-aspartic acid, and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). Monolithic columns [poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-N-methacryloyl-L-aspartic acid) (PHEMAsp)] were characterised by swelling studies, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Molecularly imprinted cryogel for L-glutamic acid separation.

A molecular recognition based L-glutamic acid (L-GLU) imprinted cryogel was prepared for L-GLU separation via chromatographic applications. The novel functional monomer N-methacryloyl-(L)-glutamic acid-Fe(3+) (MAGA-Fe(3+) ) was synthesized to be complex with L-GLU. The L-GLU imprinted cryogel was prepared by free radical polymerization under semifrozen conditions in the presence of a monomer-template complex MAGA-Fe(3+) -L-GLU.

Selective removal of 17β-estradiol with molecularly imprinted particle-embedded cryogel systems.

The selective removal of 17β-estradiol (E2) was investigated by using molecularly E2 imprinted (MIP) particle embedded poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) cryogel. PHEMA/MIP composite cryogel was characterized by FTIR, SEM, swelling studies, and surface area measurements. E2 adsorption studies were performed by using aqueous solutions which contain various amounts of E2.