Shaping Artificial Receptors Through Nanoparticle Surface Imprinting of Biomolecules Using Miniemulsion Polymerization

Abstract

Molecular imprinting is a state-of-the-art technique that creates synthetic materials containing highly specific ?holes? which have an affinity for a target molecule. The three-dimensional cavities created within the polymeric matrix are complementary to the size, shape and functional group orientation of the target molecule. This technique has been commercially used in a wide range of separation, purification and sensor applications predominantly targeting small moieties. However, extension of this method to the biomacromolecules regime has been proven to be a challenging task. In this thesis, the overall aim is to prove that molecular imprinting can be used to make artificial receptors composed of polymers with these ?holes? that will target and remove viruses, and thus eventually prevent viral infections. In the first part of this thesis, template immobilized surface imprinted polymeric nanoparticles were successfully fabricated that can recognize and absorb specific proteins from a mixture of different proteins. Subsequently, with successful application of the surface imprinting techniques on proteins, viral imprints were created on the surfaces of polymeric nanoparticles to "capture" and remove any active, disease-causing viruses. Following that, studies on virus rebinding and anti-viral effects were conducted to enable the development of a system to remove pathogenic viral species from the body. The successful fabrication of such artificial antibodies specific to viruses can be applied in medical treatment for curing infectious diseases or in other non-clinical applications such as water disinfection.