Surface plasmon microarray and voltage-driven biocatalysis for drug development and bioelectronics

Abstract

The objectives of the research described in this dissertation are driven with a broader motivation to provide scientific solutions to real world problems related to human health and cleaner energy. Under global health issues, there are many challenges that need to be addressed, specifically in the laborious drug development process and characterization of small-molecule cancer drugs. The research strategies described in this work focus on developing analytical solutions for drug candidate identification, preclinical metabolite screening, and quality assurance of active pharmaceutical ingredients. A surface plasmon methodology was developed to study binding kinetics of oncogenic protein-protein interactions and their inhibition by small-molecule drugs. Additionally, a rapid one-step construction of the human liver membrane bioelectrodes for inexpensive, electrochemical drug metabolism and inhibition was formulated. Thirdly, the applicability of the screen printed electrodes was validated towards single drop electrocatalysis of pharmaceuticals as a cost-effective and instant analytical tool to determine the purity of an active chemical form of a drug. Under the focus of biocatalysis, high efficient nanostructure bioelectrode designs have been investigated for model catalytic reactions.