PHOTORELEASE

This page now redirects to Pure

https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/projects/fabrication-of-particles-with-photo-receptors-bio-analytical-appl

established December 2023

 

 

The importance of carbon-based materials in biological applications has been recognized. Nanodiamond particles (NDs) are emerging as novel candidates for nano-biotechnological applications such as imaging probes and drug carriers. NDs do not show the toxicity of other nanoparticles, notably gold, making them ideal nanoscale drug delivery platforms. Furthermore, NDs can exhibit intrinsic fluorescence from point defects making them candidates for biomedical imaging applications. ND particles are particularly attractive for biomedical applications as functionalization and biomolecule immobilization can be readily accomplished. Triggered drug release allows the functionalized NDs to find their targets before the drugs are activated by local conditions. In this sense, the NDs are performing the well-established role of prodrugs, smuggling the inactive compounds to their targets where they are released through bond cleavage.

Project timeframe

The project ran from 2011 to 2014. The project was funded by the European Commission (PIRSES-GA-2010-269099). and involved researchers from the UK, France, Spain and the Ukraine.

Project aims

The objective of the proposed program concerned the fabrication of NDs modified with photo-labile linkers thorough which different molecules can be directly attached without chemically modification of the biomolecule itself. PHOTORELEASE researchers aimed to develop sugar-NDs as novel inhibitors for Escherichia coli-derived biofilm formation. Optimisation activities led to NDs with improved functionalization that displayed significantly improved anti-biofilm activity. The research project brought together centres from France, the UK, Spain and the Ukraine. The network aimed to offer training in the fabrication and characterisation of new materials for biological applications.

Photorelease-live-dead-assay Confocal microscope image of Live/Dead assay results
Photorelease-sugar-conjugated-ND A computer model showing a section of a sugar-conjugated ND

Project findings and impact

The EU funded project took advantage of the properties of NDs to develop novel inhibitors for E. coli-derived biofilms. The first generation of sugar-conjugated NDs showed marked anti-adhesive activity in cell-based assays without displaying toxicity towards eukaryotic cells. Trimeric mannoside clusters in which the sugar units are thioglycosides rather than the more typical O-glycoside-based ligands (such as our first generation NDs) were found to be 30 times more active than the unconjugated sugar cluster and three times more active than the first generation NDs.

Unexpectedly, the tri-thiomannoside cluster alone displayed a relatively potent inhibition of biofilm formation, while the corresponding ND-conjugated tri-thiomannoside cluster only gave a fourfold greater relative inhibitory potency relative to the unconjugated compound. This result is unprecedented. Indeed, thioglycoside-linked mannoside clusters have not, until now, been considered as inhibitors. A thioglycoside linkage renders the anomeric tethering much more robust to acidic or enzymatic hydrolysis than the O-glycosidic functions making such structures of special interest for ND surface functionalisation. Read the full report,

Research team

Lyuba Mikhalovska

Ian R Cooper

Peter J Cragg

Output

Selective antimicrobial and antibiofilm disrupting properties of functionalized diamond nanoparticles against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, M Kahnal, V Raks, R Issa, V Chernyshenko, A Barras, J M Garcia, A Siriwardena, I R Cooper, PJ Cragg*, L I Mikhalovska, V Zaitzev, R Boukherroub, S Szunerits*, Part. Part. Syst. Charact., 2015, 32, 822-830

Antimicrobial activity of menthol modified nanodiamond particles, V Turcheniuk, V Raks, R Issa, IR Cooper, PJ Cragg,* R Jijie, N Dumitrescu, LI Mikhalovska, V Zaitzev, R Boukherroub,* S Szunerits*, Diamond Relat. Mater., 2015, 57, 2-8

Partners

Viktoria Raks

Volodymyr Chernyshenko

Vladimir Zaitsev

Sabine Szunerits