Development of a nanostructured biosensor for early detection of huanglongbing disease in citrus

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Stutzmann, since 4/2016
• Subject Area: Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials ; Solid State and Surface Chemistry, Material Synthesis
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 262453224

Inorganic semiconductors combined with bio-organic systems offer the potential for the development of a wide range of novel hybrid devices. In particular in the emerging area of hybrid organic/inorganic interfaces for bioelectronic devices, there is a continuous need of developing new functional materials with improved properties. In this context, nanostructured system of wide gap semiconductors have attained increased interest as particulary promising substrate materials for the development of novel biosensing devices. ZnO, in particular, is attractive due to its high isoelectric point. In this context major work is devoted in the group of Rossana Elena Madrid (Department of Bioengineering of the University of Tucuman, Argentina) and Dr. Maria Paula Filippone (Agroindustrial Experimental Station "Obispo Colombres", Argentina) to the development of biosensing devices based on the use of ZnO nanowires as sensing platform towards the early detection of huanglonbing (HLB), one of the most serious and destructive citrus diseases in the world. However, a fundamental requirement for using ZnO in biosensing applications is the ability to immobilize tailored molecular and biomolecular layers on ZnO surfaces.To this end, covalently bound, organophosphonate self-assembled monolayers (SAMPs) are particularly attractive: they display a high degree of stability and are suitable for the bonding of biological receptors directly to a substrate. In particular in the group of Anna Cattani-Scholz (TU München, Germany) it has been shown that functionalized phosphonate monolayers are especially well suited for biosensing applications due to their mild preparation conditions, as well as to their facility for chemical amplification using simple, water-based conjugation chemistry.They can be applied for example as stable platforms for detection of target molecule binding on ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) devices. On this basis this project will focus on the optimization of a valid sensing platform based on the biofunctionalization of ZnO nanostructures for the detection of HLB.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Argentina
• Partner Organisation: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
• Participating Persons: Dr. Maria Paula Filippone; Professorin Dr. Rossana Elena Madrid
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Dr. Anna Cattani-Scholz, until 4/2016