Chemistry team develops new biosensors

Associate Professor and CBR member Xiangqun Zeng, of the Department of Chemistry, leads a powerhouse team of researchers who develop new instruments for detecting minute amounts of chemicals. One of her main tools is the quartz crystal microbalance sensor, which can record slight changes in mass by measuring the change in frequency of a vibrating quartz crystal. Zeng is able to make this instrument sensitive to a particular molecule by carefully modifying the sensor surface. New results published recently in the November 2010 issue of Biosensors and Bioelectronics (“Multivalent Interaction-Based Carbohydrate Biosensors for Signal Amplification,” Volume 26, Pages 996-1001) explain how her team is using this technology to distinguish between nearly identical sugar molecules. The authors conclude that the “progress achieved through this study will aid the effort to develop [a] glycosensor and will enhance the potential for future discoveries in the fields of carbohydrate research and carbohydrate analysis. The study of multivalent interactions may provide new targets and new strategies for the design of pharmaceutical agents.”

The lead author is Yanyan Wang, who was a visiting graduate student in Zeng’s laboratory in 2008-2009 from Nankai University in China. This research was supported in part by a grant to Zeng from the National Institutes of Health.