Rapid quantitative detection of Yersinia pestis by lateral-flow immunoassay and up-converting phosphor technology-based biosensor

Up-converting phosphor technology (UPT)-based lateral-flow immunoassay has been developed for quantitative detection of Yersinia pestis rapidly and specifically. In this assay, 400 nm up-converting phosphor particles were used as the reporter. A sandwich immumoassay was employed by using a polyclonal antibody against F1 antigen of Y. pestis immobilized on the nitrocellulose membrane and the same antibody conjugated to the UPT particles. The signal detection of the strips was performed by the UPT-based biosensor that could provide a 980 nm IR laser to excite the phosphor particles, then collect the visible luminescence emitted by the UPT particles and finally convert it to the voltage as a signal. V-T and V-c stand for the multiplied voltage units for the test and the control line, respectively, and the ratio V-T/V-C is directly proportional to the number of Y pestis in a sample. We observed a good linearity between the ratio and log CFU/ml of Y pestis above the detection limit, which was approximately 10(4) CFU/mI. The precision of the intra- and inter-assay was below 15% (coefficient of variation, CV). Cross-reactivity with related Gram-negative enteric bacteria was not found. The UPT-LF immunoassay system presented here takes less than 30 min to perform from the sample treatment to the data analysis. The current paper includes only preliminary data concerning the biomedical aspects of the assay, but is more concentrated on the technical details of establishing a rapid manual assay using a state-of-the-art label chemistry. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Yttrium oxysulfide nanosized spherical particles doped with Yb and Er or Yb and Tm: efficient materials for up-converting phosphor technology field

This work reports on the preparation, structural and luminescent studies of nanosized up-converter phosphors Y2O2S:Yb(4%), Er(0.1%) and Y2O2S:Yb(4%), Tm(0.1%),both from polymeric and basic carbonate precursors. The precursors were submitted to a sulphuration process that was previously developed for oxysulfide preparation from basic carbonate. From XRD data, all phosphors presented the oxysulfide phase and the mean crystallite size estimated from the Scherrer formula in the range of 15-20 nm. Polymeric precursor leads to the smallest crystallite size independent on the doping ion. SEM and TEM results confirmed that basic carbonate leads to spherical particles with narrow size distribution and mean diameter of 150 nm, and polymeric precursor smaller spherical particles with diameter between 20 and 40 nm. Up-conversion studies under 980 nm laser excitation showed that Er-doped phosphors present strong green emission related to H-2(11/2), S-4(3/2) --> I-4(15/2) Er transitions as well as the red ones, F-4(9/2) --> I-4(15/2). Tm-doped samples show strong blue emission assigned to (1)G(4) --> H-3(6) and also the red ones, related to (1)G(4) --> F-3(4). Therefore, the sulphuration method was successfully applied to prepare nanosized and nanostructured blue and green up-converter oxysulfide phosphors starting from basic carbonate and polymeric precursors. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Up-converter nanophosphor Y2O2S:Er,Yb aminofunctionalized containing or not spherical silica conjugated with BSA

This work reports on the study of the nanophosphor. Y2O2S:Er(2%),Yb(1%) obtained from polymeric resin to be evaluated as fluorescent label with Suitable features to conjugate with bio-molecules for bioassay up-converting phosphor technology (UPT) application A conjugation protocol between bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the aminofunctionalized nanophosphor containing or not spherical silica was established UV-vis results indicated an effective conjugation between nanophosphor particles and the protein up-conversion measurements under 980 nm excitation performed for samples before and after aminofunctionalization showed that nanophosphor particles luminescence features keep unchanged in all cases All results suggest that the adapted protocol is feasible to provide a nanoparticle-protein effective conjugation preserving nanophosphor optical features The presence of spherical silica can be considered advantageous to increase conjugation efficiency Therefore. the developed procedure is applicable for future conjugations between the chosen nanophosphor and the streptavidin protein chat takes part in the well known self-recognition system avidin-biotin. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

基于上转换发光技术的生物传感器及其应用

为实现对特定生物分子的高灵敏度快速检测与分析。采用上转换发光材料作为标记物，研制成功一台基于上转换发光技术的新型光学免疫生物传感器。该传感器利用上转换发光材料在红外光激发下发射可见磷光的特性，通过对免疫层析试纸条上经生物反应而结合上去的上转换发光材料颗粒的含量进行检测，计算出被测样品中特定生物分子的浓度。实验结果表明，该传感器具有较好的生物特异性，对兔抗鼠疫免疫球蛋白(IgG)标准样品的检测灵敏度达到ng／ml量级，并在200～6000ng／ml浓度范围内具有良好的线性响应特性，相关系数R^2≥0．95；

Avidin conjugation to up-conversion phosphor NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ by the oxidation of the oligosaccharide chains

NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a polyol process using diethyleneglycol (DEG) as solvent. After being functionalized with SiO2-NH2 layer, these NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles can conjugate with activated avidin molecules (activated by the oxidation of the oligosaccharide chain). The as-formed NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles, NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles functionalized with amino groups, avidin conjugated amino-functionalized NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), UV/Vis absorption spectra, and up-conversion luminescence spectra, respectively.

Avidin conjugation to up-conversion phosphor NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ by the oxidation of the oligosaccharide chains

NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a polyol process using diethyleneglycol (DEG) as solvent. After being functionalized with SiO2-NH2 layer, these NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles can conjugate with activated avidin molecules (activated by the oxidation of the oligosaccharide chain). The as-formed NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles, NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles functionalized with amino groups, avidin conjugated amino-functionalized NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), UV/Vis absorption spectra, and up-conversion luminescence spectra, respectively. The biofunctionalization of the NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles has less effect on their luminescence properties, i.e., they still show the up-conversion emission (from Er3+, with S-4(3/2) -> I-4(15/2) at similar to 540 nm and F-4(9/2) -> I-4(15/2) at similar to 653 nm), indicative of the great potential for these NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ nanoparticles to be used as fluorescence probes for biological system.

Preparation and characterization of stable aqueous suspensions of up-converting Er3+/Yb3+-doped LiNbO3 nanocrystals

The preparation of LiNbO3:Er3+/Yb3+ nanocrystals and their up-conversion properties have been studied. It is demonstrated that polyethyleneimine- (PEI) assisted dispersion procedures allow obtaining stable aqueous LiNbO3:Er3+/Yb3+ powder suspensions, with average size particles well below the micron range (100–200 nm) and the isoelectric point of the suspension reaching values well above pH 7. After excitation of Yb3+ ions at a wavelength of 980 nm, the suspensions exhibit efficient, and stable, IR-to-visible (green and red) up-conversion properties, easily observed by the naked eye, very similar to those of the starting crystalline bulk material.

Scaling up online learning technology and tools for online learning checklist

This checklist highlights key questions for institutions that are considering their online learning provision and relates to the Jisc Scaling up online learning technology and tools for online learning guide.

A wide-band front-end for terrestrial and cable receptions

In this paper, a wide-band low noise amplifier, two mixers and a VCO with its buffers implemented in 50GHz 0.35 mu m SiGe BiCMOS technology for dual-conversion digital TV tuner front-end is presented. The LNA and up-converting mixer utilizes current injection technology to achieve high linearity. Without using inductors, the LNA achieves 0.1-1GHz wide bandwidth and 18.8-dB gain with less than 1.4-dB gain variation. The noise figure of the LNA is less than 5dB and its 1dB compression point is -2 dBm. The IIP3 of two mixers is 25-dBm. The measurement results show that the VCO has -127.27-dBc/Hz phase noise at 1-MHz offset and a linear gain of 32.4-MHz/V between 990-MHz and 1.14-GHz. The whole chip consume 253mW power with 5-V supply.