Linear Cryogel Arrays: On the Fast Track for Borreliosis Detection.

The detection of IgG/IgM antibodies is a crucial tool for the diagnosis of infectious diseases as they give specific information such as the stage of infection or when it approximately occurred. In this work, a linear cryogel array (LCA) technology is described for the detection of IgG and IgM antibodies, indicative of a borreliosis infection in human sera. The LCA consists of a transparent capillary filled with functionalized cryogel compartments.

Blocking-Free and Substrate-Independent Serological Microarray Immunoassays.

In bioanalytical applications, many coating strategies have been established for so-called "blocking" of the surfaces. However, most of the procedures developed so far require additional processing steps for surface blocking and small variations in the blocking efficiency result in increased background noise, which lowers the overall sensitivity of an assay. In this study, we demonstrate the preparation of a bioanalytical surface with a thin film of a photo-cross-linkable copolymer that is transformed photochemically into a surface-attached hydrogel network.

Antibody fingerprints in lyme disease deciphered with high density peptide arrays.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infectious disease in Europe and North America. Previous studies discovered the immunogenic role of a surface-exposed lipoprotein (VlsE) of . We employed high density peptide arrays to investigate the antibody response to the VlsE protein in VlsE-positive patients by mapping the protein as overlapping peptides and subsequent in-depth epitope substitution analyses.

Downstream processing of virus-like particles: single-stage and multi-stage aqueous two-phase extraction.

The demand for vaccines against untreated diseases has enforced the research and development of virus-like particle (VLP) based vaccine candidates in recent years. Significant progress has been made in increasing VLP titres during upstream processing in bacteria, yeast and insect cells. Considering downstream processing, the separation of host cell impurities is predominantly achieved by time-intensive ultracentrifugation processes or numerous chromatography and filtration steps.