Direct Exposure of Dry Enzymes to Atmospheric Pressure Non-Equilibrium Plasmas: The Case of Tyrosinase.

The direct interaction of atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasmas with tyrosinase (Tyr) was investigated under typical conditions used in surface processing. Specifically, Tyr dry deposits were exposed to dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) fed with helium, helium/oxygen, and helium/ethylene mixtures, and effects on enzyme functionality were evaluated. First of all, results show that DBDs have a measurable impact on Tyr only when experiments were carried out using very low enzyme amounts.

Visible Light as an Antimicrobial Strategy for Inactivation of and Biofilms.

The increase of antimicrobial resistance is challenging the scientific community to find solutions to eradicate bacteria, specifically biofilms. Light-Emitting Diodes (LED) represent an alternative way to tackle this problem in the presence of endogenous or exogenous photosensitizers. This work adds to a growing body of research on photodynamic inactivation using visible light against biofilms.

General Approach to the Immobilization of Glycoenzyme Chains Inside Calcium Alginate Beads for Bioassay.

A general method to obtain the efficient entrapment of mixtures of glycoenzymes in calcium alginate hydrogel is proposed in this paper. As a proof of principle, three glycoenzymes acting in series (trehalase, glucose oxidase, and horseradish peroxidase) have been coimmobilized in calcium alginate beads. The release of the enzymes from the hydrogel mesh (leakage) is avoided by exploiting the enzyme's aggregation induced by the concanavalin A.