LC2 droplet biosensors: Lipid-coated Liquid Crystal Droplets as Highly Sensitive, Selective Sensors of Bacterial Toxins and other Bio-active Molecule

医疗点检测已被确定为防治抗菌素耐药性国际战略的一个关键要素，但实际上，它是医疗实践所有领域的一个关键要素。目前，我们使用的许多诊断方法都不能给出所需的瞬时反馈，而且使用成本相对较高。这在第三世界尤其是一个问题。我们的终极愿景是生产一种纸或塑料条，有点像液晶温度计，当它检测到特定的细菌毒素或其他疾病的标记时，它将提供特定的颜色变化。可在护理点使用的试纸，价格便宜，一次性使用，不需要电源。这将是基于磷脂(生物膜状)涂覆的液晶液滴。液晶液滴的固有放大特性和对细菌毒素的显著敏感性已经被证明，但在将这一承诺转化为可行的系统之前，需要克服一些重要的问题。利用利兹存在的独特的技能和经验的结合，这就是我们的目标。特别是，我们将开发用于受控生产所需尺寸的液滴的均匀悬浮液的系统，以实现对磷脂界面上的液晶的对准的控制，开发用于处理散装样品而不是(如迄今所述)单个液滴的方法，找到将液滴‘包装’在凝胶或表面上的方法，以及对这些液滴对一系列主要基于重要细菌毒素的日益困难和苛刻的测试系统的响应和选择性进行一系列演示。这一令人兴奋的多学科方法以一种新的方式使用液晶，不仅将增强我们对液晶、生物膜和生物分子相互作用的基本科学理解，而且可能提供一种诊断重大医疗问题的新方法。

Point-of-care testing has been identified as a key element in the international strategy for combating antimicrobial resistance but really it is a key element in all areas of medical practice. At present many of the diagnostic methods which we use do not give the desired instantaneous feedback and are relatively expensive to use. This is particularly an issue in the third world. Our ultimate vision is to produce a paper or plastic strip, a bit like a liquid crystal thermometer, that will provide a specific color-change when it detects a particular bacterial toxin or other disease 'marker'. Test strips that can be used at the point of care, which are cheap and disposable and which do not require a source of power. These will be based on phospholipid (biomembrane-like) coated liquid crystal droplets. The intrinsic amplification properties and the remarkable sensitivity of liquid crystal droplets to bacterial toxins have already been demonstrated but there are a number significant problems that need to be overcome before this promise can be translated into a practicable system. Making use of the unique combination of skills and experience that exists at Leeds, this is what we aim to do. In particular we will develop systems for controlled production of uniform suspensions of droplets of the desired size, to achieve control over the alignment of the liquid crystal at the phopholipid interface, to develop methods for addressing bulk samples rather than (as has been the case so far) individual droplets, to find ways of 'packaging' the droplets either in gels or on surfaces, and to undertake a series of demonstrations of the response and selectivity of these droplets to series of increasingly difficult and demanding test systems mostly based around significant bacterial toxins. This exciting multidisciplinary approach that uses liquid crystals in a new way will both enhance our fundamental scientific understanding of liquid crystals, biomembranes and biomolecule interactions, and potentially provide a new way of diagnosing significant healthcare problems.