Combined with BONCAT, Nanomedical Diagnostics Graphene Biosensor Identifies Circulating Biomarkers of Aging

SAN DIEGO, Oct.16, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Nanomedical Diagnostics, leading manufacturer of graphene biosensors that accelerate pharmaceutical and biotherapeutics development, announces a new publication titled, "Graphene-based Biosensor for On-Chip Detection of Bio-Orthogonally Labeled Proteins" in the journal Lab on a Chip. The paper describes Agile R100 as a "new portable digital device for biosensing... that can be employed for any click-able application." It suggests the potential of the platform for identifying the biomarkers associated with tissue health, pathology, and aging.

While people worldwide are living longer, there is little evidence that health in later years is improving. To develop improved diagnostics and treatments for degenerative diseases, comprehensive identification of the regulators of aging is needed. Bio-orthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT) is a recognized technology that metabolically labels proteins to characterize their downstream biological functions, but the technique is limited by the sample requirements, cost, complexity, and accuracy of platforms used to detect the labeled proteins.

The paper describes the development of click chemistry built on the Agile R100 graphene biosensor to rapidly detect azido-nor-leucine (ANL)-labeled proteomes in minute amounts of sample with less time and complexity than typically associated with BONCAT analysis. Mass spectrometry requires milligrams of starting material, which is challenging and costly to obtain in studies of small animals and stem cell research. Mass spectrometry is also prone to false positives due to nonspecific binding to the enrichment column and false negatives due to dilution.

"With Agile R100, we were able to detect bio-orthogonally labeled proteins with no false positives and reduced false negatives, with sample size in the sub-microgram level," says Dr. Kiana Aran, principal investigator of the study. "The graphene biosensor has the potential to replace commercial labor-intensive optical assays and mass spectrometry, significantly reducing the sample size, complexity, cost, and time associated with BONCAT analysis."

Agile R100 is a novel optics-free assay platform for the binding confirmation of biomolecular interactions. As a graphene biosensor, Agile R100 monitors changes in electrical conductivity to gain label-free measurements, enabling sensitive, quantitative analysis of small molecules and proteins.

About Nanomedical Diagnostics

Nanomedical Diagnostics ("Nanomed") is a life science company based in San Diego, CA. Nanomed has developed a breakthrough electrical assay based on proprietary Field Effect Biosensing (FEB) technology that delivers sensitive label-free binding validation of biomolecular interactions for accelerated drug discovery. As the world's leading developer and manufacturer of next-generation graphene biosensors, Nanomed's mission is to transform the healthcare industry with innovative new products that enable cutting-edge life science research, drug discovery applications, and portable diagnostic and health monitoring platforms.

SOURCE Nanomedical Diagnostics, Inc.