Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes with Biomolecules for Nanobiosensors to Detect Cancer Markers

TROPPER I; VILLAGRASA L; LERNER B; PÉREZ M; BOSELLI A; LAMAGNA A; POLICASTRO L; DURÁN H

Puerto Madryn, Chubut

Congreso; XLVI Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2010

The aim of this study was to functionalize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with antibodies or oligonucleotides to produce nanobiosensors for tumor markers detection. For this purpose, first CNTs were oxidized by incubation with a mixture of acids. Then oxidized CNTs (CNTs-COOH) were covalently bound to antibodies or modified oligonucleotides with an amine group at 5’ end by incubation with 1-ethyl-3-(dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hidroxysuccinimide (NHS). The product of this reaction is an amide bond between a carboxyl group of CNTs-COOH and an amine group present in the proteins or in the modified oligonucleotides. The products of both steps of this functionalization were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). SEM images and Raman spectra showed the characteristic differences on morphology and Raman peaks between CNTs and CNTs-COOH. TGA analysis demonstrated the presence of the organic molecules (protein or DNA) and the degree of functionalization in the samples of CNTs-protein and CNTs-DNA. Thus, these techniques allowed the characterization of CNTs functionalization with biomolecules to be used in the development of electronic nanobiosensors devices for specific cancer markers detection.