Towards a carbon nanotube antibody sensor

This work investigated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)/polymer-protein A complexes for optically reporting antibody concentration via a change in near infrared fluorescent emission after antibody binding. SWNT have potential as biosensors because of extraordinary sensitivity, lack of photobleaching, and optical activity in a near-infrared window. A SWNT sensor could provide label-free measurements of antibody concentration in a continuous fashion, which may aid selection of production strains. Protein A itself, dextran, poly vinyl alcohol, DNA sequences, and chitosan were used as polymers for wrapping SWNT. Nonspecific binding to solution-phase constructs was found to be a major problem with these approaches. Chitosan hydrogels encapsulating SWNT also show nonspecific responses.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Biological Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Bojö, Peter

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael Strano.

• Biological Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71463

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/71463