Our research group ‘Active Materials’ recently published an article on the detection of sulfonamide antibiotics with optical biosensors in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. The technology developed in the research group is based on elastic hydrogel microparticles, so-called soft colloidal probes (SCP).
Sulphonamide antibiotics were the first synthetic antibiotics on the market and still have a a broad field of applications. Their extensive usage, wrong disposal, and limited degradation technologies in wastewater treatment plants lead to high concentrations in the environment, resulting in a negative impact on ecosystems and an acceleration of antibiotic resistance. Although lab-based analytical methods allow for sulfonamide detection, comprehensive monitoring is hampered by the nonavailability of on-site, inexpensive sensing technologies.
The publication shows a proof-of-concept for the detection of sulfonamide antibiotics in aqueous samples for application options in environmental monitoring. The presented technology exploit functionalized elastic hydrogel microparticles and their ability to easily deform upon specific binding with enzyme-coated surfaces to establish the groundwork of a biosensing assay for the fast and straightforward detection of sulfonamide antibiotics outside the laboratory.