Biosensor Development - New competences and optical methodologies developed in our group has lead to the development of biosensor technologies and to the creation of a Venture Capital company, BioNanoPhotonics A/S, since 2003

 

 

Professional software packages have been developed. Our group offers a rich collection of image processing tools for the professional and advanced user. The tools include image filters (Fourier based frequency filtering, spatial filters as well as statistical filetring), Image analysis, Noise analysis, Image Decomposition: segmentation using K-Means, Single Value Decomposition, Principal Component Analyis, standard colormaps and user defined colormaps. Histogram optimization - decorrelation of RGB component. Complement Image, Image Morphology and enumeration of objects in the image - Label analysis and selection.Pseudo RGB image composition. Flash Image comparison. Image correlation analysis. Motion filtering of images. Autocorrelation analysis of signal and noise. Advanced Contrast Enhancement features.

 

 

Light and Biomolecules – The establishment of the very exciting “Ultrafast Biospectroscopy laser lab” at AAU in 2004 Teresa Neves Petersen and Steffen Petersen was the enabling step to pursue the study of light induced ultra-fast reaction mechanisms in proteins. In our lab we can follow in our lab fs, ps and ns lasting events that occur in proteins upon UV illumination and their dynamics.

 

New Photodynamic Therapy - Light Induced Cancer Cell Death - The “Ultrafast Biospectroscopy laser lab” is also the home of a new patented laser based photodynamic methodology for cancer therapy.

 

 

Our new photonic technology is ideal to couple drugs, proteins, peptides, DNA and other molecules to nanoparticles such as gold or biopolymer nanospheres, which can subsequently be used as molecular carriers into cells for therapeutic purposes.

 

 

Molecular imprinting with micrometer resolution using a focused beam of laser light.

 

Whole surfaces can be engineered with molecular lithography developed by us. In principle lead to very high affinity surfaces that may recognise particular cell and antibodies/antigene types. Cell-cell recognition can be mimic. Biocompability between surfaces that need to be placed in the human body can also be achieved due to our engineering capabilities.

 

 

 

 

 

Biomolecules and Light
There are approximately 9 million photons per every atom in our universe! Light is essential for life as we know it and life is only possible because light interacts with matter. The study of the interaction between biomolecules and light is at the heart of a deeper understanding of biomolecular function and this study goes far beyond photosynthesis! Whatever the energy of the photons, they will collide with the molecules, and in some instances be able to transfer energy to or from the molecule they collided with. If energy transfer to the molecule does take place, the amount of transferred energy determines what happens next. Whereas an impressive insight has developed in the area of photosynthesis, where visual photons are converted by an intricate molecular machinery into high energy key metabolites, comparatively little is known at the molecular level about the effects of, e.g., UV light on proteins, the effects of light pulses on proteins/genes stability and function, and on the effects of light on the metabolic pathways that rule life such as the effect of light on brain activity and immunological responses. Recently we have reported that light may modulate or change protein structure. We have recently discovered a mechanism which purpose is still a mystery: UV illumination of the single tryptophan residue of a triacylglyceride lipase breaks the adjacent disulphide bond (MT Neves-Petersen et al., 2002). Concurrently, the lifetimes of the excited electronic state of the tryptophan residue changes from the picosecond range to the nanosecond range. This mechanism seems to have been preserved by nature after approximately 4 billion years of biological evolution, since aromatic residues are the preferred spatial neighbours of disulphide bridges (MTN Petersen, 1999). Using our bioinformatics tools we can know also predict which proteins will have their disulphide bridges opened upon UV illumination of their aromatic residues. We are convinced that the interaction between biomolecules and photons is central to a deeper understanding of biomolecular interactions and of the effects of radiation on biomolecules. UV exposure is known to alter alter and damage DNA and to trigger respiratory allergic responses. Ultra-Violet (UV) light is also known to induce skin inflammation and skin cancer. The immune system responses can also be modulated by light. We can only get knowledge on why these phenomena happen if we understand the interaction between light and biomolecules.

 

Biomolecules in BioNanosensors
The NanoBioTechnology at AAU is also involved in developing the technology needed to create nanosized biosensors. Proteins are by nature nano-sized structures and thus ideal to be incorporated in sensor technology. Our knowledge on protein electrostatics, protein surface composition, protein structure/function relationship, protein stability and on the interaction between light and biomolecules puts us in a scientifically strong position for entering these new and challenging activities.

 

Protein Electrostatics and Surface Composition
The protein surface is the interface through which the protein is interacting with its molecular environment. Our program TITRA, in combination with other programs, allows us to predict the electrostatic potential of the protein as a function of pH and the dielectric constants of the protein, the solvent and of a third dielectric medium, such as a surface (Petersen MTN et al., 2001a; Neves-Petersen, 2001b).
We have analysed the 3D structural composition of protein surfaces and have uncovered some very distinct rules for residue packing. We are developing a web-based tool, which would allow a user to test whether a 3D structure of a protein contains unusual surface features (Fojan et al., 2000). We believe that such rules may become important for both protein engineering and de-novo design of proteins. The combination of electrostatic insight and protein surface structure will be of importance for designing proteins intended for immobilisation onto nano-surfaces.


Present and future directions

It is now a reality that pulses of light can be used in order to activate genes, activate protein expression, modulate protein and genetic material interactions, protein activity and ultimately to create new metabolic pathways!!