Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated with natural polymers have found many applications in the field of biosensors as magnetic carriers due to the combination of two characteristics: the possibility of controlling the particles movement by applying external magnetic fields and attaching biomolecules to the particle through a chemical bond. The aim of this work was to prepare long-term stabilized particles with acid groups available to be used as magnetic carriers of biomolecules. In this study, we present the synthesis of maghemite nanoparticles coated with alginate, a natural polymer. Particles were characterized by electron microscopy. Magnetic properties were studied by vibrating sample magnetometry, which revealed the superparamagnetic behavior of maghemite nanoparticles. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was chemically bonded to the maghemite-alginate particles and the enzymatic activity of HRP was determined by a colorimetric technique. The maghemite-alginate particles were immobilized onto the surface of a gold electrode by means of a magnet and the HRP activity was followed electrochemically, showing that these particles can be successfully used in amperometric sensors. Furthermore, maghemite-alginate particles were also used for the diagnosis of the foot-and-mouth disease by means of an enzyme-linked immunoassay with electrochemical detection. 3ABC protein, a non-structural protein of the virus, was linked to the maghemite-alginate particles and used to selectively detect anti-3ABC antibodies in cattle sera.

We study the acousto-optic effect on the polaritonic properties of DNA nanofibers which are fabricated by embedding a DNA wire into a polaritonic material. This is a new research area and can be called nanobiopolaritonics. Polaritonic materials have energy gaps in their dispersion relation due to the coupling between optical photons and photons. The bound states of DNA wire are calculated using transfer matrix method. It is found that some of the bound states of the DNA wire lie within the band gap of the polaritonic material. These states do not decay into the polaritonic material since there are not states available for decay process to occur. This means DNA nanofibers has an extremely high Q factor. We have also studied the acousto-optic effect on the photon absorption in DNA nanofibers doped with ensemble of quantum dots. The quantum dots interact with the DNA wire via electron bound polaritons interaction. We have discovered a switching mechanism in DNA nanofibers. When the resonance energy of the quantum dots lies near bound polaritons states, the system becomes transmitting for frequency of a probe field due to the strong electron bound polaritons interaction. This is can be assigned as ‘ON’ of the switch. However, when the strain field is applied the DNA fiber can now absorb the probe beam. This is can be assigned as ‘OFF’ of the switch.

In this paper, the incorporation and release of two types of drugs was carried out in microgels of hydroxypropylcellulose/polyacrylamide (HPC/PAAM) and hydroxyethylcellulose/polyacrylamide (HEC/PAAM). The two drugs were NSAIDs (nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs)—one antipyretic and one analgesic—acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin, ASP) and iuprofen (IBU), respectively. First, the microgels were synthesized and characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) in order to identify the presence of functional groups for each polymer. The incorporation of the drug was made by swelling the microgels in a drug solution and finally carrying out the release of the substances listed at 37° C. The results were obtained by UV-visible spectroscopy.

We have studied the variable range hopping (VRH) mechanism for polarons in DNA structures using an exponential density of states. Due to the electron-phonon interaction localized polarons are formed in the DNA helix. The unwinding of DNA increases molecular orbital overlap between bases while decreasing the base-to-base distance. These types of vibrations create phonons. We consider that DNA has a band tail which has an exponential density of states and we have calculated the temperature- and the electric field dependence of the conductivity. We compare our model with the experiments of the electrical conductivity of samples of double-stranded H5N1 genes of avian Influenza virus DNA. Our theory is able to explain their data.