Fabrication of fluorescent pH-responsive protein-textile composites.

Sci Rep

Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C5, Canada.

Published: August 2020

AI Article Synopsis

  • Wearable pH sensors are being developed using protein-textile composites that can detect changes in body fluids, enhancing health monitoring in healthcare and fitness.
  • Researchers engineered amyloid curli fibers from E. coli by linking them to a pH-responsive fluorescent protein, enabling these fibers to create durable, responsive materials suitable for wearables.
  • The resulting textile composites are strong, breathable, and capable of accurately measuring pH levels over multiple cycles, showing promise for applications in smart textiles and continuous health monitoring.

Article Abstract

Wearable pH sensors are useful tools in the healthcare and fitness industries, allowing consumers to access information related to their health in a convenient manner via the monitoring of body fluids. In this work, we tailored novel protein-textile composites to fluorescently respond to changing pH. To do so, we used amyloid curli fibers, a key component in the extracellular matrix of Escherichia coli, as genetic scaffold to fuse a pH-responsive fluorescent protein, pHuji. Engineered amyloids form macroscopic and environmentally resistant aggregates that we isolated to use as stand-alone hydrogel-based sensors, and that we trapped within textile matrices to create responsive bio-composites. We showed that these composites were mechanically robust and vapor-permeable, thus exhibiting favorable characteristics for wearable platforms. CsgA-pHuji fibers integrated in the textile allowed the final device to respond to pH changes and distinguish between alkaline and acidic solutions. We demonstrated that the resulting composites could sustain their fluorescence response over days, and that their sensing ability was reversible for at least 10 high/low pH cycles, highlighting their potential for continuous monitoring. Overall, we introduced a biosynthesized amyloid-based textile composite that could be used as biosensing patch for a variety of applications in the smart textile industry.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7400762PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70079-xDOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

protein-textile composites
8
fabrication fluorescent
4
fluorescent ph-responsive
4
ph-responsive protein-textile
4
composites
4
composites wearable
4
wearable sensors
4
sensors tools
4
tools healthcare
4
healthcare fitness
4

Similar Publications

Wearable pH sensors are useful tools in the healthcare and fitness industries, allowing consumers to access information related to their health in a convenient manner via the monitoring of body fluids. In this work, we tailored novel protein-textile composites to fluorescently respond to changing pH. To do so, we used amyloid curli fibers, a key component in the extracellular matrix of Escherichia coli, as genetic scaffold to fuse a pH-responsive fluorescent protein, pHuji.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: fwrite(): Write of 34 bytes failed with errno=28 No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 272

Backtrace:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_write_close(): Failed to write session data using user defined save handler. (session.save_path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Unknown

Line Number: 0

Backtrace: