Persistent Luminescence signal Enhancement. Design of more efficient nanoparticles for bioSensing (PLEaSe) – PLEaSe

The development of new methods and new sensors for the detection of molecules of biological interest is a very active area of research. The objective of such researches is to propose tools capable of detecting the lowest possible concentrations of biomarkers of interest, in order to treat the pathology as soon as possible. For this, the development of inexpensive, sensitive and easy-to-use methods is of great interest.

Partner 1 of the consortium has unexpectedly observed that the intensity of the luminescence signal of nanomaterial (ZGO:Cr) is highly sensitive to the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The latter can amplify the signal of ZGO:Cr by a factor ranging from 4 to 30 depending on the operating conditions. Furthermore ZGO:Cr presents a persistent luminescence which make possible to delay the detection of the signal.

The goal of the PLEaSe (Persistent Luminescence signal Enhancement. Design of more efficient nanoparticles for bioSensing) project will be to:
1) understand the origin of the luminescence signal amplification phenomenon of ZGO nanoparticles in the presence of H2O2 in order to,
2) design new nanoparticles whose luminescence will be amplified to its maximum in the presence of H2O2 in order to,
3) apply this property for the in vitro assay of H2O2 and biomolecules capable of producing H2O2 by an enzymatic reaction (such as glucose with GOD),
4) develop a portable excitation and detection system, ideally integrated in a smartphone, allowing the detection of biomolecules of interest without time, location or equipment constraints.
The objective of this project will be to have more sensitive probes and easy-to-use equipment for simplified detection of biomolecules of interest.