LABION is the first worldwide user of XelPleX (produced by HORIBA/Jobin Yvon), a new high-performance and full-automated instrument based on Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) and purchased thanks to a “conto capitale” grant co-funded by the Italian Ministry of Health and by Lombardy region.
SPRi is based on the direct and label-free detection of the interaction between two molecules (e.g. proteins, small peptides, antibodies, drugs, DNA, vesicles, bacteria). The first molecule (“ligand”) is normally immobilized on the gold surface of the SPRi-chip and can then capture the molecule of interest (“analyte”) contained in the sample (e.g. blood, serum, urine).
The interaction between the two molecules can be directly measured taking advantage of small changes in the refractive index of the gold surface illuminated by a laser. In this way, hundreds of different analytes (e.g biomarkers) are potentially measurable at the same time. In addition, the analysis of multiple analytes could be automatically performed for several patients’ samples within few hours.
The choice to introduce XelPlex among the state of art equipment of LABION was driven by the need to monitor simultaneously and efficiently several biomarkers related to the disease status, the efficacy of therapeutic treatments and the effect of rehabilitation. The first goal of our research will be the integration of SPRi and nanotechnologies in order to develop a new approach for the diagnosis and monitoring of degenerative diseases like Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease (see NanoPlasmiRNA )
Related new Publications:
- De Lorenzi E., Chiari M, Colombo R., Cretich M., Sola L., Vanna R., Gagni P., Bisceglia F., Morasso C., Lin J., Lee M., McGeer P., Barron A.E. “Evidence that the Human Innate Immune Peptide LL-37 may be a Binding Partner of Amyloid-β and Inhibitor of Fibril Assembly“. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. vol. Preprint, no. Preprint, pp. 1-14, 2017. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-170223
- Gori, A., Cretich, M., Vanna, R., Sola, L., Gagni, P., Bruni, G., … & Chiari, M. “Multiple epitope presentation and surface density control enabled by chemoselective immobilization leads to enhanced performance in IgE-binding fingerprinting on peptide microarrays“. Analytica Chimica Acta. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2017.06.027
Related funded Projects:
- EuroNanoMed II, 6th Joint Call (2016-2018). Project title: “NanoPlasmiRNA – Universal Nano-enhancer for a new multiplexing Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging analysis of miRNAs in multiple sclerosis”. (Project Leader: Dr. Renzo Vanna).
