This technology is a photo-generated glycan array used for the identification of sugar-based moieties of pathogens and can be used for pathogen detection, biomarker identification, and vaccine development.
The ability to detect and diagnose infectious diseases quickly and effectively is vital. Surface-exposed carbohydrate moieties that are characteristic of a given microbe may serve as key biomarkers for pathogen identification and prove to be a useful diagnostic tool. However, while cell-surface carbohydrates show promise as potential biomarkers, they have not been effectively utilized for biomarker discovery, disease detection, or vaccine development.
This technology establishes a method for producing photo-generated glycan arrays that can be used to characterize large panels of synthetic carbohydrates for their antigenic reactivity with pathogen-specific antibodies. Using a photoactive surface, carbohydrates are bound through a photochemically generated covalent bond with high efficacy that is independent of the molecular weights of each carbohydrate. The immobilized carbohydrates are then able to bind to pathogen-specific antibodies, to ultimately indicate the presence of a microbial infection. Therefore, this technology offers a high throughput platform to discover potential pathogen signature biomarkers, detect infectious diseases, and aid in vaccine development that is both versatile and highly-specific.
This technology has been successfully used to identify specific carbohydrate moieties that are present on the surface of spores of the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which can cause the fatal infectious disease Anthrax.
Denong Wang, Ph.D.
Patent Issued (US 8,658,573
IR 1985, IR 2003
Licensing Contact: Sara Gusik