Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 16
  • Item
    Rapid isolation and identification of pneumonia associated pathogens from sputum samples combining an innovative sample preparation strategy and array-based detection
    (Washington : American Chemical Society, 2019) Pahlow, Susanne; Lehniger, Lydia; Hentschel, Stefanie; Seise, Barbara; Braun, Sascha D.; Ehricht, Ralf; Berg, Albrecht; Popp, Jürgen; Weber, Karina
    With this study, an innovative and convenient enrichment and detection strategy for eight clinically relevant pneumonia pathogens, namely, Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae is introduced. Bacteria were isolated from sputum samples with amine-modified particles exploiting pH-dependent electrostatic interactions between bacteria and the functionalized particle surface. Following this, an asymmetric polymerase chain reaction as well as subsequent stringent array-based hybridization with specific complementary capture probes were performed. Finally, results were visualized by an enzyme-induced silver nanoparticle deposition, providing stable endpoint signals and consequently an easy detection possibility. The assay was optimized using spiked samples of artificial sputum with different strains of the abovementioned bacterial species. Furthermore, actual patient sputum samples with S. pneumoniae were successfully analyzed. The presented approach offers great potential for the urgent need of a fast, specific, and reliable isolation and identification platform for important pneumonia pathogens, covering the complete process chain from sample preparation up to array-based detection within only 4 h.With this study, an innovative and convenient enrichment and detection strategy for eight clinically relevant pneumonia pathogens, namely, Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae is introduced. Bacteria were isolated from sputum samples with amine-modified particles exploiting pH-dependent electrostatic interactions between bacteria and the functionalized particle surface. Following this, an asymmetric polymerase chain reaction as well as subsequent stringent array-based hybridization with specific complementary capture probes were performed. Finally, results were visualized by an enzyme-induced silver nanoparticle deposition, providing stable endpoint signals and consequently an easy detection possibility. The assay was optimized using spiked samples of artificial sputum with different strains of the abovementioned bacterial species. Furthermore, actual patient sputum samples with S. pneumoniae were successfully analyzed. The presented approach offers great potential for the urgent need of a fast, specific, and reliable isolation and identification platform for important pneumonia pathogens, covering the complete process chain from sample preparation up to array-based detection within only 4 h.
  • Item
    Rapid Colorimetric Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Clinical Isolates Using a Magnetic Nanoparticle Biosensor
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2019) Alhogail, Sahar; Suaifan, Ghadeer A.R.Y; Bikker, Floris J.; Kaman, Wendy E.; Weber, Karina; Cialla-May, Dana; Popp, Jürgen; Zourob, Mohammed M.
    A rapid, sensitive, and specific colorimetric biosensor based on the use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) was designed for the detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in clinical samples. The biosensing platform was based on the measurement of P. aeruginosa proteolytic activity using a specific protease substrate. At the N-terminus, this substrate was covalently bound to MNPs and was linked to a gold sensor surface via cystine at the C-terminus of the substrates. The golden sensor appears black to naked eyes because of the coverage of the MNPs. However, upon proteolysis, the cleaved peptide–MNP moieties will be attracted by an external magnet, revealing the golden color of the sensor surface, which can be observed by the naked eye. In vitro, the biosensor was able to detect specifically and quantitatively the presence of P. aeruginosa with a detection limit of 102 cfu/mL in less than 1 min. The colorimetric biosensor was used to test its ability to detect in situ P. aeruginosa in clinical isolates from patients. This biochip is anticipated to be useful as a rapid point-of-care device for the diagnosis of P. aeruginosa-related infections.
  • Item
    Towards on-site testing of Phytophthora species
    (Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2014) Schwenkbier, Lydia; Pollok, Sibyll; König, Stephan; Urban, Matthias; Werres, Sabine; Cialla-May, Dana; Weber, Karina; Popp, Jürgen
    Rapid detection and accurate identification of plant pathogens in the field is an ongoing challenge. In this study, we report for the first time on the development of a helicase-dependent isothermal amplification (HDA) in combination with on-chip hybridization for the detection of selected Phytophthora species. The HDA approach allows efficient amplification of the yeast GTP-binding protein (Ypt1) target gene region at one constant temperature in a miniaturized heating device. The assay's specificity was determined by on-chip DNA hybridization and subsequent silver nanoparticle deposition. The silver deposits serve as stable endpoint signals that enable the visual as well as the electrical readout. Our promising results point to the direction of a near future on-site application of the combined techniques for a reliable detection of Phytophthora species.
  • Item
    TopUp SERS substrates with integrated internal standard
    (Basel : MDPI, 2018) Patze, Sophie; Hübner, Uwe; Weber, Karina; Cialla-May, Dana; Popp, Jürgen
    Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is known as a molecular-specific and highly sensitive method. In order to enable the routine application of SERS, powerful SERS substrates are of great importance. Within this manuscript, a TopUp SERS substrate is introduced which is fabricated by a top-down process based on microstructuring as well as a bottom-up generation of silver nanostructures. The Raman signal of the support material acts as an internal standard in order to improve the quantification capabilities. The analyte molecule coverage of sulfamethoxazole on the surface of the nanostructures is characterized by the SERS signal evolution fitted by a Langmuir–Freundlich isotherm.
  • Item
    Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy-based evaluation of the membrane protein composition of the organohalide-respiring Sulfurospirillum multivorans
    (Chichester [u.a.] : Wiley, 2021) Cialla-May, Dana; Gadkari, Jennifer; Winterfeld, Andreea; Hübner, Uwe; Weber, Karina; Diekert, Gabriele; Schubert, Torsten; Goris, Tobias; Popp, Jürgen
    Bacteria often employ different respiratory chains that comprise membrane proteins equipped with various cofactors. Monitoring the protein inventory that is present in the cells under a given cultivation condition is often difficult and time-consuming. One example of a metabolically versatile bacterium is the microaerophilic organohalide-respiring Sulfurospirillum multivorans. Here, we used surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to quickly identify the cofactors involved in the respiration of S. multivorans. We cultured the organism with either tetrachloroethene (perchloroethylene, PCE), fumarate, nitrate, or oxygen as electron acceptors. Because the corresponding terminal reductases of the four different respiratory chains harbor different cofactors, specific fingerprint signals in SERS were expected. Silver nanostructures fabricated by means of electron beam lithography were coated with the membrane fractions extracted from the four S. multivorans cultivations, and SERS spectra were recorded. In the case of S. multivorans cultivated with PCE, the recorded SERS spectra were dominated by Raman peaks specific for Vitamin B12. This is attributed to the high abundance of the PCE reductive dehalogenase (PceA), the key enzyme in PCE respiration. After cultivation with oxygen, fumarate, or nitrate, no Raman spectral features of B12 were found. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
  • Item
    Molecular Specific and Sensitive Detection of Pyrazinamide and Its Metabolite Pyrazinoic Acid by Means of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Employing In Situ Prepared Colloids
    (Basel : MDPI, 2019) Mühlig, Anna; Jahn, Izabella-Jolan; Heidler, Jan; Weber, Karina; Jahn, Martin; Sheen, Patricia; Zimic, Mirko; Cialla-May, Dana; Popp, Jürgen
    The prodrug pyrazinamide (PZA) is metabolized by the mycobacteria to pyrazinoic acid (POA), which is expelled into the extracellular environment. PZA resistance is highly associated to a lack of POA efflux. Thus, by detecting a reduction of the concentration of POA in the extracellular environment, by means of lab-on-a-chip (LoC)-SERS (surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy), an alternative approach for the discrimination of PZA resistant mycobacteria is introduced. A droplet-based microfluidic SERS device has been employed to illustrate the potential of the LoC-SERS method for the discrimination of PZA resistant mycobacteria. The two analytes were detected discretely in aqueous solution with a limit of detection of 27 µm for PZA and 21 µm for POA. The simultaneous detection of PZA and POA in aqueous mixtures could be realized within a concentration range from 20 μm to 50 μm for PZA and from 50 μm to 80 μm for POA.
  • Item
    A manual and an automatic TERS based virus discrimination
    (Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2015) Olschewski, Konstanze; Kämmer, Evelyn; Stöckel, Stephan; Bocklitz, Thomas; Deckert-Gaudig, Tanja; Zell, Roland; Cialla-May, Dana; Weber, Karina; Deckert, Volker; Popp, Jürgen
    Rapid techniques for virus identification are more relevant today than ever. Conventional virus detection and identification strategies generally rest upon various microbiological methods and genomic approaches, which are not suited for the analysis of single virus particles. In contrast, the highly sensitive spectroscopic technique tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) allows the characterisation of biological nano-structures like virions on a single-particle level. In this study, the feasibility of TERS in combination with chemometrics to discriminate two pathogenic viruses, Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and Porcine teschovirus (PTV), was investigated. In a first step, chemometric methods transformed the spectral data in such a way that a rapid visual discrimination of the two examined viruses was enabled. In a further step, these methods were utilised to perform an automatic quality rating of the measured spectra. Spectra that passed this test were eventually used to calculate a classification model, through which a successful discrimination of the two viral species based on TERS spectra of single virus particles was also realised with a classification accuracy of 91%.
  • Item
    Toward food analytics: fast estimation of lycopene and β-carotene content in tomatoes based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)
    (Cambridge : Soc., 2016) Radu, Andreea Ioana; Ryabchykov, Oleg; Bocklitz, Thomas Wilhelm; Huebner, Uwe; Weber, Karina; Cialla-May, Dana; Popp, Jürgen
    Carotenoids are molecules that play important roles in both plant development and in the well-being of mammalian organisms. Therefore, various studies have been performed to characterize carotenoids’ properties, distribution in nature and their health benefits upon ingestion. Nevertheless, there is a gap regarding a fast detection of them at the plant phase. Within this contribution we report the results obtained regarding the application of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) toward the differentiation of two carotenoid molecules (namely, lycopene and β-carotene) in tomato samples. To this end, an e-beam lithography (EBL) SERS-active substrate and a 488 nm excitation source were employed, and a relevant simulated matrix was prepared (by mixing the two carotenoids in defined percentages) and measured. Next, carotenoids were extracted from tomato plants and measured as well. Finally, a combination of principal component analysis and partial least squares regression (PCA-PLSR) was applied to process the data, and the obtained results were compared with HPLC measurements of the same extracts. A good agreement was obtained between the HPLC and the SERS results for most of the tomato samples.
  • Item
    Raman Signal Enhancement Tunable by Gold-Covered Porous Silicon Films with Different Morphology
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Agafilushkina, Svetlana N.; Žukovskaja, Olga; Dyakov, Sergey A.; Weber, Karina; Sivakov, Vladimir; Popp, Jürgen; Cialla-May, Dana; Osminkina, Liubov A.
    The ease of fabrication, large surface area, tunable pore size and morphology as well surface modification capabilities of a porous silicon (PSi) layer make it widely used for sensoric applications. The pore size of a PSi layer can be an important parameter when used as a matrix for creating surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) surfaces. Here, we evaluated the SERS activity of PSi with pores ranging in size from meso to macro, the surface of which was coated with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). We found that different pore diameters in the PSi layers provide different morphology of the gold coating, from an almost monolayer to 50 nm distance between nanoparticles. Methylene blue (MB) and 4-mercaptopyridine (4-MPy) were used to describe the SERS activity of obtained Au/PSi surfaces. The best Raman signal enhancement was shown when the internal diameter of torus-shaped Au NPs is around 35 nm. To understand the role of plasmonic resonances in the observed SERS spectrum, we performed electromagnetic simulations of Raman scattering intensity as a function of the internal diameter. The results of these simulations are consistent with the obtained experimental data
  • Item
    Non-instrumented DNA isolation, amplification and microarray-based hybridization for a rapid on-site detection of devastating Phytophthora kernoviae
    (Cambridge : Soc., 2015) Schwenkbier, Lydia; Pollok, Sibyll; Rudloff, Anne; Sailer, Sebastian; Cialla-May, Dana; Weber, Karina; Popp, Jürgen
    A rapid and simple instrument-free detection system was developed for the identification of the plant pathogen Phytophthora kernoviae (P. kernoviae). The on-site operable analysis steps include magnetic particle based DNA isolation, helicase-dependent amplification (HDA) and chip-based DNA hybridization. The isothermal approach enabled the convenient amplification of the yeast GTP-binding protein (Ypt1) target gene in a miniaturized HDA-zeolite-heater (HZH) by an exothermic reaction. The amplicon detection on the chip was performed under room temperature conditions – either by successive hybridization and enzyme binding or by a combined step. A positive signal is displayed by enzymatically generated silver nanoparticle deposits, which serve as robust endpoint signals allowing an immediate visual readout. The hybridization assay enabled the reliable detection of 10 pg μL−1 target DNA. This is the first report of an entirely electricity-free, field applicable detection approach for devastating Phytophthora species, exemplarily shown for P. kernoviae.