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Talk by Frank Biedermann

Title: "Macrocyclic and Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials for Molecular Sensing Applications in Biofluids"
Occasion: GDCh-Kolloquium
Host: Andreas Hennig
Start: 04.07.2023 - 16:00
Location: CellNanOs 38/201

About the speaker:  Dr. Frank Biedermann conducts research at the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Abstract of the talk: Supramolecular systems, offering potentially superior robustness, cost-efficiency, and response time, are anticipated to revolutionize future molecular diagnostics applications, outpacing traditional biosensors. The advent of technologies facilitating targeted detection of minute biomarkers, such as metabolites, is particularly intriguing as these often elude antibody-based sensors and present cumbersome challenges for chromatographic methods. Nevertheless, major hurdles persist before synthetic supramolecular systems can be broadly employed for molecular diagnostics. Specifically, contemporary synthetic receptors, nanosensors, and probes often exhibit significant deficiencies in binding strength and selectivity for small molecule analytes, including amino acids, biogenic amines, or neurotransmitters.

In this lecture, we reveal novel supramolecular systems, incorporating macrocyclic chemosensors and hybrid-material nanozeolites, that provide innovative approaches to overcome these binding affinity and analyte-distinction issues. We further illustrate proof-of-concept examples, demonstrating the detection of metabolites and drugs at physiologically relevant concentrations in biofluids such as human urine, saliva, and blood.
Furthermore, we invite the research community to contribute to the SupraBank repository. This open-access resource renders both structures and physicochemical properties of non-covalent systems accessible and findable in a machine-readable format. Through this collective endeavor, we anticipate progressing toward making synthetic supramolecular systems a mainstream option for molecular diagnostics.