Enhanced potencies of multivalent carbohydrates on microarrays and magnetic nanoparticles

The display of carbohydrates on surfaces provides new tools for the study of protein carbohydrate interactions. In this context we worked on the display of glycostructures on a chip surface and on magnetic nanoparticles. We have attached glycodendrimers to a chip surface for the study of multivalency effects. Which is an important phenomenon in protein-carbohydrate interactions. Valencies were varied from 1 to 8 and corrections were made for the valencies. A series of fluorescent lectins was evaluated and for each of them a binding profile was obtained from a single experiment showing both the specificity of the lectin for a certain sugar and also whether or not it prefers multivalent ligands or not. Very distinct binding patterns were seen for the various lectins. The magnetic nanoparticles were used for the purpose of bacterial detection. The rapid identification and characterization of bacterial pathogens is an important goal to serve as an alternative to time-consuming culturing. Bacteria carry adhesion proteins on their surface and these are crucial to the infection process. The binding specificity of bacteria is a useful handle on the outside of the pathogen that can be taken advantage of in this context. Detection of the zoonotic bacteria pathogen Streptococcus suis was achieved using magnetic glycoparticles. New developments in both areas will be discussed.