Challenges for the effective molecular imprinting of proteins.

Molecular imprinting is a technique that is used to create artificial receptors by the formation of a polymer network around a template molecule. This technique has proven to be particularly effective for molecules with low molecular weight (<1500 Da), and during the past five years the number of research articles on the imprinting of larger (bio)templates is increasing considerably. However, expanding the methodology toward imprinted materials for selective recognition of proteins, DNA, viruses and bacteria appears to be extremely challenging.

Anionic and cationic dextran hydrogels for post-loading and release of proteins.

In this study, post-loading of proteins in and release from chemically crosslinked dextran hydrogels exploiting reversible electrostatic interactions was investigated. Methacrylated dextran (Dex-MA) was co-polymerized with methacrylic acid (MA) or dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) to form negatively and positively charged hydrogels, respectively. Incubation of negatively charged hydrogels in a low ionic strength (10 mM HEPES, pH 7.

The effect of network charge on the immobilization and release of proteins from chemically crosslinked dextran hydrogels.

Size is the main protein characteristic that determines its release from non-degrading neutral hydrogels. The effect of network charge on the release of proteins has not been studied systematically so far. Therefore, we investigated the release of proteins from charged hydrogels that were obtained by co-polymerization of methacrylated dextran (Dex-MA) with either methacrylic acid (MA) or 2-N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA).

Molecularly imprinted polymer particles: synthetic receptors for future medicine.

Molecular imprinting is a relatively new and rapidly evolving technique used to create synthetic receptors; it also possesses great potential in a number of applications in the life sciences. Traditionally, molecularly imprinted polymers are prepared by bulk polymerization, followed by crushing and sieving to obtain polymer beads. However, several methods can be used to synthesize polymer micro- and nano-particles directly, thereby avoiding the time- and labor-consuming process of crush sieving.