Publications by authors named "Laura M Lechuga"
Article Synopsis
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are promising cancer therapies that leverage the immune system to target tumors, but they face challenges like tumor diversity and testing complexities that hinder broader use.
- To address these issues, researchers have developed a new biosensing technique using gold nanodisks to create a functional artificial membrane, allowing for quick and accurate testing of ICIs interactions with cancer cells.
- This innovative platform offers real-time analysis of immune checkpoint pathways and demonstrates high sensitivity and reliability in monitoring PD1/PD-L1 interactions, potentially enabling more efficient assessment of monoclonal antibody efficacy in cancer treatment.
Article Synopsis
- α-Synuclein aggregation is a key factor in neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease (PD) and its oligomers can serve as biomarkers, but early detection methods are still lacking.
- Researchers have identified a peptide called PSMα3 that binds strongly and selectively to toxic αS oligomers, making it a promising tool for diagnosis.
- They developed a cost-effective, lab-on-a-chip biosensor that uses this peptide for real-time detection of toxic oligomers in cerebrospinal fluid, potentially improving early diagnosis of PD in clinical settings.
Article Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the risks posed by zoonotic diseases, which can jump from animals to humans, emphasizing the need for monitoring pathogens in domestic animals.
- A multi-target serological plasmonic biosensor was developed for rapid testing of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in domestic animals, providing results in under 15 minutes with accurate sensitivity and reasonable specificity.
- This portable biosensor could serve as a reliable diagnostic tool in veterinary healthcare, expanding the use of plasmonic technology for quick and localized testing of infections in animals.
Article Synopsis
- Water pollution poses serious health and environmental risks, necessitating new sensing technologies for quick detection of contaminants in water.
- Researchers have developed a nanophotonic sensor using metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) to detect small pollutants, requiring no sample pretreatment and allowing for rapid results in just 15 minutes.
- The sensor has been validated for detecting harmful pollutants like benzotriazole and imidacloprid in tap water at levels below toxic thresholds, paving the way for advanced tools in environmental monitoring.
Article Synopsis
- Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy is a promising treatment for COVID-19 but faces challenges in production and cost due to complex manufacturing processes.
- A new biomimetic nanoplasmonic biosensor offers a simpler and faster way to evaluate mAb therapies, enabling real-time monitoring of virus interactions and antibody effectiveness in just 15 minutes.
- The biosensor has shown high accuracy in detecting neutralizing antibodies against various COVID-19 variants, suggesting it could enhance the development of effective treatments for COVID-19 and other diseases.
Article Synopsis
- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are tiny particles released by cells that carry important biological information and can serve as biomarkers for diseases, such as renal injury in preeclampsia.
- The study presents a new method using nanoparticles and an electrochemical setup to accurately measure specific proteins (podocin and nephrin) on urinary EVs, enabling improved disease diagnosis.
- Results showed that preeclamptic women had a higher podocin to nephrin ratio in their urinary EVs compared to healthy women, indicating this measurement could be useful for diagnosing preeclampsia.
Article Synopsis
- Early cancer diagnosis is vital for improving treatment outcomes, especially for lung cancer, which has high mortality due to late detection.
- A novel nanophotonic biosensor was developed to quickly and accurately detect the lung cancer biomarker microRNA-21-5p directly in human plasma without complex procedures.
- Testing on clinical samples demonstrated the biosensor's effectiveness, matching traditional methods while offering a simpler approach that could enable faster cancer diagnostics in healthcare settings.
Article Synopsis
- Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have the potential to mature into any adult cell type, making them valuable for therapies and disease studies.
- The study focuses on bioactive microcapsules that aid in stem cell aggregation and can deliver growth factors effectively, enhancing stem cell development in a 3D culture.
- The addition of a tannic acid coating to these microcapsules improved growth factor retention and boosted pluripotency expression in the stem cells, indicating a new method for stem cell culture.
Article Synopsis
- Serological tests are crucial for managing COVID-19, focusing on diagnostics, surveillance, and immunity studies.
- A new plasmonic biosensor assay identifies SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in under 15 minutes using a custom-designed sensor, without needing signal amplification.
- Clinical validation shows the biosensor offers high diagnostic sensitivity (99%) and specificity (100%), making it a reliable tool for rapid COVID-19 serology in various settings.
Ultrasensitive Label-Free Nucleic-Acid Biosensors Based on Bimodal Waveguide Interferometers.
Methods Mol Biol
January 2022
Article Synopsis
- The bimodal waveguide (BiMW) biosensor is an advanced sensor that uses evanescent field detection to identify biomolecular interactions without labels, making it highly sensitive for detecting nucleic acids like mRNA and microRNAs at extremely low concentrations.
- This technology is particularly useful for cancer diagnostics, as it enables the timely analysis of biomarkers which can indicate the presence of diseases such as bladder cancer.
- The sensor is made using standard microelectronics, which allows it to be miniaturized and produced cost-effectively, making it suitable for portable and disposable point-of-care applications.
Article Synopsis
- Label-free biosensors using optical transducers, like plasmonic and silicon photonic systems, are promising for clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food quality control but are not widely commercialized yet.
- A key issue hindering their market release is the absence of standardized methods for modifying sensor surfaces and immobilizing bioreceptors, leading to variability in performance.
- The review highlights common techniques for surface modification, discusses their strengths and weaknesses, and suggests innovative approaches for improving biosensor reliability, alongside exploring future research directions like device integration and automation.
Article Synopsis
- Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an illness caused by the Leishmania parasite, with varying symptoms based on the strain and commonly diagnosed through tissue samples or DNA detection.
- New diagnostic techniques focus on identifying specific proteins (biomarkers) from the parasite, but current bioreceptors lack sensitivity and specificity for these biomarkers.
- The study introduces three innovative peptides as effective bioreceptors for identifying two key proteins (sAP and PPG) involved in leishmaniasis, demonstrating high affinity and stability, presenting a promising alternative for diagnostic tools in CL.
Article Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for advanced diagnostic methods, leading to a surge in the development of single-molecule analytical platforms.
- Recent advancements in plasmonic biosensing are enabling new strategies for detecting individual molecules and analyzing their interactions at a much higher sensitivity.
- This review outlines the latest innovations in plasmonic technologies for monitoring important biomarkers and discusses their applications in personalized medicine, along with current challenges and future directions.
Article Synopsis
- - A photonic biosensor using a bimodal waveguide interferometer (BiMW) was developed to quickly and accurately detect fenitrothion (FN) in tap water, addressing the environmental and health concerns related to pesticide use.
- - The biosensor showed a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.29 ng/mL and could provide results within 20 minutes without needing pretreatment of water samples.
- - Successful tests on blind tap water samples demonstrated high recovery rates, indicating the biosensor's effectiveness for real-time monitoring of water quality.
Article Synopsis
- Integrated photonic sensors have gained popularity in biosensing for detecting low molecule concentrations without labels.
- Interferometric sensors offer high detection limits but may lose sensitivity if not properly calibrated.
- The new coherent detection method achieves very low detection limits in protein tests while allowing the use of cost-effective laser sources, showcasing its potential for practical applications.
Article Synopsis
- - Infections from multidrug-resistant bacteria are a growing healthcare crisis, leading to millions of cases and increasing death rates each year due to treatment challenges.
- - A new biosensor using an ultrasensitive nanophotonic technology (BiMW) has been developed, which identifies antimicrobial resistance genes quickly and accurately without the need for amplification.
- - The BiMW biosensor is capable of detecting drug resistance at extremely low levels in under 30 minutes, offering a promising tool for improving patient outcomes and managing infections caused by resistant bacteria.
Article Synopsis
- Label-free plasmonic biosensors are effective for detecting various biomarkers and are ideal for precision diagnostics due to their high sensitivity and cost-effectiveness that require minimal training to operate.
- The authors propose a new one-step immobilization method using poly-adenine (polyA) blocks for DNA probes and antibodies, enhancing stability and organization on gold surfaces.
- This method demonstrated impressive detection limits in the pico- to nanomolar range and significantly decreased background interference in serum samples, making it a strong candidate for developing multiplexed biosensors for rapid diagnostics.
Article Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for fast, precise, and affordable diagnostic tests to effectively monitor and control the spread of the virus.
- Current methods like PCR tests are accurate but slow due to sample transportation, while rapid lateral flow tests face sensitivity challenges.
- Optical biosensors, particularly label-free nanophotonic ones, are emerging as promising solutions for quick diagnostics at the point-of-care, offering high sensitivity and potential for practical use in detecting respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
Article Synopsis
- Pneumocystis pneumonia is a serious fungal infection that affects people with weakened immune systems, and diagnosing it is complicated because patients often lack specific symptoms.
- Current diagnostic methods mainly rely on PCR techniques that are effective but require specialized expertise, equipment, and can be time-consuming.
- The study presents a new optical biosensor that uses surface plasmon resonance to quickly and accurately detect the mitochondrial ribosomal RNA gene associated with Pneumocystis pneumonia, offering a potential for faster and more accessible diagnostics in clinical settings.
Article Synopsis
- * New biomarkers known as gluten immunogenic peptides (GIP) have been identified for monitoring gluten intake in celiac patients, as they are excreted in urine.
- * A novel point-of-care biosensor has been developed that allows for quick and accurate detection of these gluten peptides in urine without the need for sample prep, providing a user-friendly solution for managing gluten-free diets and tracking health in celiac patients.
Article Synopsis
- Nanoplasmonic biosensors typically require complex and costly fabrication methods for effective performance, but this study presents a simpler and cheaper approach using colloidal lithography.
- The researchers created large-area nanoplasmonic sensor chips with nanogap antennas made from pairs of gold nanodisks, achieving a uniform plasmonic response and high sensitivity.
- The sensor chips demonstrated a limit of detection of 0.78 nM for the cancer biomarker miRNA-210, enabling direct and label-free detection of low molecular weight biomolecules without additional amplification steps.
Article Synopsis
- Recent advancements in tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics have improved patient survival rates, but challenges with early detection persist due to inefficiency and high costs of existing methods.
- A new portable, user-friendly, and affordable biosensor device has been developed for the early detection of TB, using a label-free surface plasmon resonance (SPR) method to quantify heat shock protein X (HspX) directly in sputum samples.
- This biosensor achieves impressive sensitivity with a limit of detection at 0.63 ng/mL and a limit of quantification at 2.12 ng/mL, demonstrating significant differences in HspX levels between TB-infected patients and non-infected individuals.
Article Synopsis
- Nosocomial infections pose significant health risks globally, making early detection of pathogens like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and MRSA critical for effective treatment and preventing severe complications.
- Researchers have developed an ultrasensitive photonic biosensor using bimodal waveguide interferometry to quickly and accurately detect these pathogens, employing advanced techniques such as biofunctionalization and specific immunoassays.
- The biosensor demonstrates impressive speed and sensitivity, with detection limits down to 800 cfu mL-1 for both bacteria, and theoretical limits of detection at even lower concentrations, enhancing diagnostic capabilities for healthcare settings.