Virus-microbead complex and use thereof

• SphereNanotechnology

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Summary

In molecular recognitions, non-specific bindings to biosensing surfaces can be effectively prevented by formation of biocompatible and hydrophilic self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on the surfaces. A thin gold (Au) layer on magnetic microspheres, enables facile SAM formation and thereby accepts second layer of filamentous virus scaffolds for the immobilization of functional materials. The merger of the virus and SAM-Au protected microspheres not only provides exceptionally dense functional material loading, but also resembles biological cellular structures that enhance ligand-receptor interactions.

Remarkable

Inspired by the cellular morphology and by the additive effect of long tethers on receptor-ligand interactions, we decorated SAM-protected Au microspheres with filamentous virus that mimic microvilli-like biological architectures. The SAM-protected virus-Au microspheres showed extremely low non-specific bindings, enhanced capacity of functional material loading, and superior performance in molecular recognition when compared with polymer beads and non-viral SAV-Au beads. The Au-protected and virus-tethered microbeads that resemble biological architectures will open up new possibilities for developing biocompatible and bio-inspired biosensors for the improved receptor-ligand interactions.

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