Fabrication and testing of a microneedles sensor array for p-cresol detection with potential biofuel applications.

We present a miniaturized high-throughput sensor array that will augment biofuel technology by facilitating in situ biochemical measurements upon micrometer-scale surfaces of leaves, stems, or petals. We used semiconductor processing to photopattern Foturan glass wafers and fabricated gold-plated microscopic electrode needles (ElectroNeedles) that pierced 125-mum-thick surfaces without deformation. The 5 x 5 or 10 x 10 arrays of ElectroNeedles can analyze 25 or 100 samples simultaneously, increasing throughput.

Orthogonal, spectroscopic high throughput screening of laccase-catalyzed p-cresol oxidation.

There is considerable interest in the oxidative fate of phenols such as p-cresol as environmental pollutants and uremic toxins. We supply a menu of spectroscopic options for the high throughput screening of laccase oxidation of p-cresol through multiple modes of detection. Laccase activity was monitored kinetically at pH 4.

Spectroscopic analyses of the noncovalent self-assembly of cyanines upon various nucleic acid scaffolds.

We utilized self-assembly of cyanine chromophores to study the conformational changes in various types of nucleic acid scaffolds: single and double stranded DNA, linear or circular DNA and RNA. We identified a chromophore that became highly fluorescent after aggregating upon nucleic acids. Fluorescence from the aggregate was instantaneous after self-assembly.