Silk fibroin is a biobased material with excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties, but its use in bioelectronics is hampered by the difficult dissolution and low intrinsic conductivity. Some ionic liquids are known to dissolve fibroin but removed after fibroin processing. However, ionic liquids and fibroin can cooperatively give rise to functional materials, and there are untapped opportunities in this combination. The dissolution of fibroin, followed by gelation, in designer ionic liquids from the imidazolium chloride family with varied alkyl chain lengths (2–10 carbons) is shown here. The alkyl chain length of the anion has a large impact on fibroin secondary structure which adopts unconventional arrangements, yielding robust gels with distinct hierarchical organization. Furthermore, and due to their remarkable air-stability and ionic conductivity, fibroin ionogels are exploited as active electrical gas sensors in an electronic nose revealing the unravelled possibilities of fibroin in soft and flexible electronics.

Electronic noses (e-noses) mimic the complex biological olfactory system, usually including an array of gas sensors to act as the olfactory receptors and a trained computer with signal-processing and pattern recognition tools as the brain. In this work, a new stimuli-responsive material is shown, consisting of self-assembled droplets of liquid crystal and ionic liquid stabilised within a fish gelatin matrix. These materials change their opto/electrical properties upon contact with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). By using an in-house developed e-nose, these new gas-sensing films yield characteristic optical signals for VOCs from different chemical classes. A support vector machine classifier was implemented based on 12 features of the signals. The results show that the films are excellent identifying hydrocarbon VOCs (toluene, heptane and hexane) (95% accuracy) but lower performance was found to other VOCs, resulting in an overall 60.4% accuracy. Even though they are not reusable, these sustainable gas-sensing films are stable throughout time and reproducible, opening several opportunities for future optoelectronic devices and artificial olfaction systems.

The fast and non-invasive detection of odors and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by gas sensors and electronic
noses is a growing field of interest, mostly due to a large scope of potential applications. Additional drivers for the
expansion of the field include the development of alternative and sustainable sensing materials. The discovery
that isolated cross-linked polymeric structures of suberin spontaneously self-assemble as a film inspired us to
develop new sensing composite materials consisting of suberin and a liquid crystal (LC). Due to their stimuliresponsive and optically active nature, liquid crystals are interesting probes in gas sensing. Herein, we report
the isolation and the chemical characterization of two suberin types (from cork and from potato peels) resorting to
analyses of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The collected data highlighted their compositional and structural differences. Cork suberin showed a higher proportion of longer aliphatic constituents and is more esterified than potato
suberin. Accordingly, when casted it formed films with larger surface irregularities and a higher C/O ratio. When
either type of suberin was combined with the liquid crystal 5CB, the ensuing hybrid materials showed distinctive
morphological and sensing properties towards a set of 12 VOCs (comprising heptane, hexane, chloroform,
toluene, dichlormethane, diethylether, ethyl acetate, acetonitrile, acetone, ethanol, methanol, and acetic acid).
The optical responses generated by the materials are reversible and reproducible, showing stability for 3 weeks.
The individual VOC-sensing responses of the two hybrid materials are discussed taking as basis the chemistry of
each suberin type. A support vector machines (SVM) algorithm based on the features of the optical responses was
implemented to assess the VOC identification ability of the materials, revealing that the two distinct suberin-based
sensors complement each other, since they selectively identify distinct VOCs or VOC groups. It is expected that
such new environmentally-friendly gas sensing materials derived from natural diversity can be combined in arrays
to enlarge selectivity and sensing capacity.

Hydrolytic zinc enzymes are common targets for protein design. The versatility of the zinc chemistry can be combined with the usage of small protein scaffolds for biocatalytic applications. Despite this, the computational design of metal-containing proteins remains challenging due to the need to properly model protein–metal interactions. We addressed these issues by developing a computational multi-state design approach of artificial zinc hydrolases based on small protein scaffolds. The zinc-finger peptide Sp1f2 was redesigned to accommodate a catalytic zinc centre and the villin headpiece C-terminal subdomain HP35 was de novo designed for metal-binding and catalytic activity. Both metallopeptides exhibited metal-induced folding (KZnP,app ≈ 2 × 105 M−1) and hydrolytic activity (k2 ≈ 0.1 M−1 s−1) towards an ester substrate. By focusing on the inherent flexibility of small proteins and their interactions with the metal ion by molecular dynamics simulations and spectroscopic studies, we identified current limitations on computational design of metalloenzymes and propose how these can be overcome by integrating information of protein–metal interactions in long time scale simulations.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most worrying threats to humankind with extremely high healthcare costs associated. The current technologies used in clinical microbiology to identify the bacterial agent and profile antimicrobial susceptibility are time‐consuming and frequently expensive. As a result, physicians prescribe empirical antimicrobial therapies. This scenario is often the cause of therapeutic failures, causing higher mortality rates and healthcare costs, as well as the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria. As such, new technologies for rapid identification of the pathogen and antimicrobial susceptibility testing are needed. This review summarizes the current technologies, and the promising emerging and future alternatives for the identification and profiling of antimicrobial resistance bacterial agents, which are expected to revolutionize the field of clinical diagnostics.

As consumption of fish and fish-based foods increases, non-destructive monitoring of fish freshness also becomes more prominent. Fish products are very perishable and prone to microbiological growth, not always easily detected by organoleptic evaluation. The analysis of the headspace of fish specimens through gas sensing is an interesting approach to monitor fish freshness. Here we report a gas sensing method for monitoring Tilapia fish spoilage based on the application of a single gas sensitive gel material coupled to an optical electronic nose. The optical signals of the sensor and the extent of bacterial growth were followed over time, and results indicated good correlation between the two determinations, which suggests the potential application of this simple and low cost system for Tilapia fish freshness monitoring.

The cooperative assembly of biopolymers and small molecules can yield functional materials with precisely tunable properties. Here, the fabrication, characterization, and use of multicomponent hybrid gels as selective gas sensors are reported. The gels are composed of liquid crystal droplets self-assembled in the presence of ionic liquids, which further coassemble with biopolymers to form stable matrices. Each individual component can be varied and acts cooperatively to tune gels' structure and function. The unique molecular environment in hybrid gels is explored for supramolecular recognition of volatile compounds. Gels with distinct compositions are used as optical and electrical gas sensors, yielding a combinatorial response conceptually mimicking olfactory biological systems, and tested to distinguish volatile organic compounds and to quantify ethanol in automotive fuel. The gel response is rapid, reversible, and reproducible. These robust, versatile, modular, pliant electro-optical soft materials possess new possibilities in sensing triggered by chemical and physical stimuli.

Currently most economical and technological bottlenecks in protein production are placed in the down-stream processes. With the aim of increasing the efficiency and reducing the associated costs, variousaffinity ligands have been developed. Affitins are small, yet robust and easy to produce, proteins derivedfrom the archaeal extremophilic “7 kDa DNA-binding” protein family. By means of combinatorial pro-tein engineering and ribosome display selection techniques, Affitins have shown to bind a diversity oftargets. In this work, two previously developed Affitins (anti-lysozyme and anti-IgG) were immobilizedonto magnetic particles to assess their potential for protein purification by magnetic fishing. The opti-mal lysozyme and human IgG binding conditions yielded 58 mg lysozyme/g support and 165 mg IgG/gsupport, respectively. The recovery of proteins was possible in high yield (≥95{%}) and with high purity,namely ≥95{%} and 81{%}, when recovering lysozyme from Escherichia coli supernatant and IgG from humanplasma, respectively. Static binding studies indicated affinity constants of 5.0 × 104M−1and 9.3 × 105M−1for the anti-lysozyme and anti-IgG magnetic supports. This work demonstrated that Affitins, which canbe virtually evolved for any protein of interest, can be coupled onto magnetic particles creating novelaffinity adsorbents for purification by magnetic fishing.

Adenoviruses are important platforms for vaccine development and vectors for gene therapy, increasing the demand for high titers of purified viral preparations. Monoliths are macroporous supports regarded as ideal for the purification of macromolecular complexes, including viral particles. Although common monoliths are based on synthetic polymers as methacrylates, we explored the potential of biopolymers processed by clean technologies to produce monoliths for adenovirus purification. Such an approach enables the development of disposable and biodegradable matrices for bioprocessing. A total of 20 monoliths were produced from different biopolymers (chitosan, agarose, and dextran), employing two distinct temperatures during the freezing process (−20 °C and −80 °C). The morphological and physical properties of the structures were thoroughly characterized. The monoliths presenting higher robustness and permeability rates were further analyzed for the nonspecific binding of Adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) preparations. The matrices presenting lower nonspecific Ad5 binding were further functionalized with quaternary amine anion-exchange ligand glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride hydrochloride by two distinct methods, and their performance toward Ad5 purification was assessed. The monolith composed of chitosan and poly(vinyl) alcohol (50:50) prepared at −80 °C allowed 100% recovery of Ad5 particles bound to the support. This is the first report of the successful purification of adenovirus using monoliths obtained from biopolymers processed by clean technologies.

Oleic acid coated iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized by thermal decomposition in organic medium are highly monodisperse but at the same time are unsuitable for biological applications. Ligand-exchange reactions are useful to make their surface hydrophilic. However, these could alter some structural and magnetic properties of the modified particles. Here we present a comprehensive study and comparison of the effects of employing either citric acid (CA) or meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) ligand-exchange protocols for phase transfer of monodisperse hydrophobic iron oxide nanoparticles produced by thermal decomposition of Fe(acac)3 in benzyl ether. We show the excellent hydrodynamic size distribution and colloidal stability of the hydrophilic particles obtained by the two protocols and confirm that there is a certain degree of oxidation caused by the ligand-exchange. CA revealed to be more aggressive towards the iron oxide surface than DMSA and greatly reduced the saturation magnetization values and initial susceptibility of the resulting particles compared to the native ones. Besides being milder and more straightforward to perform, the DMSA ligand exchange protocol produces MNP chemically more versatile for further functionalization possibilities. This versatility is shown through the covalent linkage of gum Arabic onto MNP-DMSA using carboxyl and thiol based chemical routes and yielding particles with comparable properties.

Fucopol, a fucose-containing exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by the bacterium Enterobacter A47 DSM 23139 using glycerol as a carbon source, was employed as a new coating material for iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNP). The coated particles were assessed as nanoprobes for cell labeling by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The MNP were synthesized by a thermal decomposition method and transferred to aqueous medium by ligand-exchange reaction with meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). Covalent binding of EPS to DMSA-stabilized nanoparticles (MNP-DMSA) resulted in a hybrid magnetic-biopolymeric nanosystem (MNP-DMSA-EPS) with a hydrodynamic size of 170 nm, negative surface charge at physiological conditions and transverse to longitudinal relaxivities ratio, r2/r1, of 148. In vitro studies with two human cell lines (colorectal carcinoma - HCT116 - and neural stem/progenitor cells - ReNcell VM) showed that EPS promotes internalization of nanoparticles in both cell lines. In vitro MRI cell phantoms also showed superior performance of MNP-DMSA-EPS in ReNcell VM, for which iron dose-dependent MRI signal drop was obtained at relatively low iron concentrations (12 - 20 µg Fe/ml) and short incubation time. Furthermore, ReNcell VM multipotency was not affected by culture in the presence of MNP-DMSA or MNP-DMSA-EPS for 14 days. Our study suggests that Fucopol-coated MNP represent useful cell labeling nanoprobes for MRI.

Gum arabic (GA) is a hydrophilic composite polysaccharide derived from exudates of Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal trees. It is biocompatible, possesses emulsifying and stabilizing properties and has been explored as coating agent of nanomaterials for biomedical applications, namely magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Previous studies focused on the adsorption of GA onto MNPs produced by co-precipitation methods. In this work, MNPs produced by a thermal decomposition method, known to produce uniform particles with better crystalline properties, were used for the covalent coupling of GA through its free amine groups, which increases the stability of the coating layer. The MNPs were produced by thermal decomposition of Fe(acac)3 in organic solvent and, after ligand-exchange with meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), GA coating was achieved by the establishment of a covalent bond between DMSA and GA moieties. Clusters of several magnetic cores entrapped in a shell of GA were obtained, with good colloidal stability and promising magnetic relaxation properties (r2/r1 ratio of 350). HCT116 colorectal carcinoma cell line was used for in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation and cell-labeling efficiency studies. We show that, upon administration at the respective IC50, GA coating enhances MNP cellular uptake by 19 times compared to particles bearing only DMSA moieties. Accordingly, in vitro MR images of cells incubated with increasing concentrations of GA-coated MNP present dose-dependent contrast enhancement. The obtained results suggest that the GA magnetic nanosystem could be used as a MRI contrast agent for cell-labeling applications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

FucoPol, a fucose-containing extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) produced by bacterium Enterobacter A47 using glycerol as the carbon source, was employed as a coating material for magnetic particles (MPs), which were subsequently functionalized with an artificial ligand for the capture of antibodies. The performance of the modified MPs (MP–EPS-22/8) for antibody purification was investigated using direct magnetic separation alone or combined with an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dextran. In direct magnetic capturing, and using pure protein solutions of human immunoglobulin G (hIgG) and bovine serum albumin (BSA), MP–EPS-22/8 bound 120 mg hIgG g−1 MPs, whereas with BSA only 10 ± 2 mg BSA g−1 MPs was achieved. The hybrid process combining both the ATPS and magnetic capturing leads to a good performance for partitioning of hIgG in the desired phase as well as recovery by the magnetic separator. The MPs were able to bind 145 mg of hIgG g−1 of particles which is quite high when compared with direct magnetic separation. The theoretical maximum capacity was calculated to be 410 ± 15 mg hIgG adsorbed g−1 MPs with a binding affinity constant of 4.3 × 104 M−1. In multiple extraction steps, the MPs bound 92% of loaded hIgG with a final purity level of 98.5%. The MPs could easily be regenerated, recycled and re-used for five cycles with only minor loss of capacity. FucoPol coating allowed both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions with the antibody contributing to enhance the specificity for the targeted products.

Monoliths represent powerful platforms for isolation of large molecules with high added value. This work presents a hybrid approach for antibody (Ab) capture and release. Using mostly natural polymers and clean processes, it is possible to create macroporous monoliths with well-defined porous networks, tuneable mechanical properties, and easy functionalization with a biomimetic ligand specific for Ab. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are embedded on the monolith network to confer a controlled magnetic response that facilitates and accelerates Ab recovery in the elution step. The hybrid monolithic systems prepared with agarose or chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) blends exhibit promising binding capacities of Abs directly from cell-culture extracts (120 ± 10 mg Ab g−1 support) and controlled Ab magnetically-assisted elution yielding 95 ± 2% recovery. Moreover, a selective capture of mAbs directly from cell culture extracts is achieved yielding a final mAb preparation with 96% of purity.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are important therapeutic proteins. One of the challenges facing large-scale production of monoclonal antibodies is the capacity bottleneck in downstream processing, which can be circumvented by using magnetic stimuli-responsive polymer nanoparticles. In this work, stimuli-responsive magnetic particles composed of a magnetic poly(methyl methacrylate) core with a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (P(NIPAM-co-AA)) shell cross-linked with N, N'-methylenebisacrylamide were prepared by miniemulsion polymerization. The particles were shown to have an average hydrodynamic diameter of 317 nm at 18°C, which decreased to 277 nm at 41°C due to the collapse of the thermo-responsive shell. The particles were superparamagnetic in behavior and exhibited a saturation magnetization of 12.6 emu/g. Subsequently, we evaluated the potential of these negatively charged stimuli-responsive magnetic particles in the purification of a monoclonal antibody from a diafiltered CHO cell culture supernatant by cation exchange. The adsorption of antibodies onto P(NIPAM-co-AA)-coated nanoparticles was highly selective and allowed for the recovery of approximately 94% of the mAb. Different elution strategies were employed providing highly pure mAb fractions with host cell protein (HCP) removal greater than 98%. By exploring the stimuli-responsive properties of the particles, shorter magnetic separation times were possible without significant differences in product yield and purity.

The article presents a review of the use of cross-section and staining techniques for investigating natural organic materials (mainly proteinaceous and oil-based binders/varnishes) in painted and polychrome artworks, considering the requirements of conservation practice and routine diagnostics. The reviewed literature calls attention to the importance of using cross sections to prepare samples for optical microscopy and to different properties of embedding resins; the most appropriate instrumental conditions for optical microscopy; and the advantages and disadvantages of the most common staining techniques. A few case studies were selected to illustrate the use of autofluorescence (intrinsic fluorescence) and induced fluorescence (using specific staining tests and fluorophore-labeled antibodies) for mapping and identifying organic paint materials in cross sections. New directions of research in cross-section analyses and fluorescence-based techniques for the identification and mapping of artistic materials are presented. The complementary use of different stains on the same cross section, further exploration of intrinsic and induced fluorescence of aged versus fresh materials, and applicability of cross-section observation and staining as complementary methods for assessing the effectiveness of restoration treatments, such as cleaning and consolidation, are discussed in the last section of the article.

Fluorescence microscopy and microspectrofluorometry are important tools in the characterization and identification of proteins, offering a great range of applications in conservation science. Because of their high selectivity and sensitivity, the combination of these techniques can be exploited for improved recognition and quantification of proteinaceous binders in paintings and polychromed works of art. The present article explores an analytical protocol integrating fluorescence microscopy and fluorometry for both identification and mapping of proteinaceous binders (in particular egg and glues) in paint samples. The study has been carried out on historically accurate reconstructions simulating the structure and composition of tempera and oil paints containing these binders. To assess the spatial distribution of specific proteins within the paint layers, cross-sections from the reconstructions were analyzed by fluorescence imaging after staining with an exogenous fluorophore. Reference fluorescence spectra for each layer were acquired by a multichannel spectral analyzer and compared after Gaussian deconvolution. The results obtained demonstrated the effectiveness of the integrated protocol, highlighting the potential for the use of fluorescent staining coupled with microspectrofluorometry as a routine diagnostic tool in conservation science. The current work creates a set of fully characterized reference samples for further comparison with those from actual works of art.

Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles {(MNPs)} alone are suitable for a broad spectrum of applications, but the low stability and heterogeneous size distribution in aqueous medium represent major setbacks. These setbacks can however be reduced or diminished through the coating of {MNPs} with various polymers, especially biopolymers such as polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are biocompatible, non-toxic and renewable; in addition, they possess chemical groups that permit further functionalization of the {MNPs.} Multifunctional entities can be created through decoration with specific molecules e.g. proteins, peptides, drugs, antibodies, biomimetic ligands, transfection agents, cells, and other ligands. This development opens a whole range of applications for iron oxide nanoparticles. In this review the properties of magnetic structures composed of {MNPs} and several polysaccharides {(Agarose}, Alginate, Carrageenan, Chitosan, Dextran, Heparin, Gum Arabic, Pullulan and Starch) will be discussed, in view of their recent and future biomedical and biotechnological applications.

The effect of kefir grains on the proteolysis of major milk proteins in milk kefir and in a culture of kefir grains in pasteurized cheese whey was followed by reverse {phase-HPLC} analysis. The reduction of kappa-, alpha-, and beta-caseins {(CN)}, alpha-lactalbumin {(alpha-LA)}, and beta-lactoglobulin {(beta-LG)} contents during 48 and 90 h of incubation of pasteurized milk {(100mL)} and respective cheese whey with kefir grains (6 and 12 g) at 20 degrees C was monitored. Significant proteolysis of {alpha-LA} and kappa-, alpha-, and beta-caseins was observed. The effect of kefir amount (6 and 12 {g/100mL)} was significant for {alpha-LA} and alpha- and {beta-CN.} {alpha-Lactalbumin} and {beta-CN} were more easily hydrolyzed than {alpha-CN.} No significant reduction was observed with respect to {beta-LG} concentration for 6 and 12 g of kefir in {100mL} of milk over 48 h, indicating that no significant proteolysis was carried out. Similar results were observed when the experiment was conducted over 90 h. Regarding the cheese whey kefir samples, similar behavior was observed for the proteolysis of {alpha-LA} and {beta-LG:} {alpha-LA} was hydrolyzed between 60 and 90% after 12h (for 6 and 12 g of kefir) and no significant {beta-LG} proteolysis occurred. The proteolytic activity of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in kefir community was evaluated. Kefir milk prepared under normal conditions contained peptides from proteolysis of {alpha-LA} and kappa-, alpha-, and beta-caseins. Hydrolysis is dependent on the kefir:milk ratio and incubation time. {beta-Lactoglobulin} is not hydrolyzed even when higher hydrolysis time is used. Kefir grains are not appropriate as adjunct cultures to increase {beta-LG} digestibility in whey-based or whey-containing foods.