Browsing by Author "Brahmbhatt, Heli"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemEmbargo
    Analytical methods for determination of mycotoxins: An update (2009–2014)
    (Elsevier, 2015-10-26) Turner, Nicholas W.; Brahmbhatt, Heli; Szabo-Vezse, Monika; Poma, Alessandro; Coker, Raymond; Piletsky, Sergey A.
    Mycotoxins are a problematic and toxic group of small organic molecules that are produced as secondary metabolites by several fungal species that colonise crops. They lead to contamination at both the field and postharvest stages of food production with a considerable range of foodstuffs affected, from coffee and cereals, to dried fruit and spices. With wide ranging structural diversity of mycotoxins, severe toxic effects caused by these molecules and their high chemical stability the requirement for robust and effective detection methods is clear. This paper builds on our previous review and summarises the most recent advances in this field, in the years 2009–2014 inclusive. This review summarises traditional methods such as chromatographic and immunochemical techniques, as well as newer approaches such as biosensors, and optical techniques which are becoming more prevalent. A section on sampling and sample treatment has been prepared to highlight the importance of this step in the analytical methods. We close with a look at emerging technologies that will bring effective and rapid analysis out of the laboratory and into the field.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Generation of novel hybrid aptamer-molecularly imprinted polymeric nanoparticles
    (Wiley, 2015-01-21) Poma, Alessandro; Brahmbhatt, Heli; Pendergraff, H. M; Watts, Jonathan K; Turner, Nicholas W.
    A strategy to exploit aptamers as recognition elements of molecularly imprinted polymeric nanoparticles (AptaMIP NPs) is presented, via modification of the chemical structure of the DNA. It is demonstrated that the introduction of this modified “aptamer monomer” results in an increase of the affinity of the produced MIP NPs, without altering their physical properties such as size, shape, or dispersibility.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Nucleoside-tailored molecularly imprinted polymeric nanoparticles (MIP NPs)
    (ACS, 2014-09-12) Poma, Alessandro; Brahmbhatt, Heli; Watts, Jonathan K; Turner, Nicholas W.
    MIP NPs represent one of the current most suitable alternatives to antibodies for molecular recognition and diagnostic applications. Here we present the synthesis of MIP NPs imprinted for 2′-deoxyadenosine (dA) prepared using for the first time a modified polymerizable 2′-deoxyuridine complementary residue. We demonstrate that the introduction of this modified monomer results in an increase of the affinity of the produced MIP NPs, without altering their physical properties such as size, shape, or dispersibility. The imprinted NPs have shown the ability to specifically recognize dA, whereas no imprinting effect was observed for 2′-deoxyguanosine (dG) or deoxycytidine (dC). The results suggest that such monomers (and their phosphoramidites) could be used in the synthesis of oligomer or longer DNA sequences for potentially producing hybrid MIP–DNA materials with improved recognition performance.