Diagnose Kidney Disease

About

INVENTION A series of novel luminescent particles based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has been developed. These particles are not emissive in clean solution but become fluorescent in the presence of DNA, proteins, etc. The distinct AIE feature of TTAPE in particular enables real-time monitoring of folding process of G1 in the absence of any pre-attached fluorogenic labels on the DNA strand. Specificity to K+-induced and stabilized quadruplex structure allows TTAPE to be used as a K+ biosensor. A counterpart of TTAPE, SATPE, on the other hand shows higher affinity to human serum albumin (HSA), the main protein in human urine. Such feature allows SATPE to serve as a probe for protein detection in aqueous media. SATPE may therefore be used for urinary protein detection, helping to detect proteinuria (i.e. high level of protein loss in the urine), which indicates kidney disease. MARKET OPPORTUNITY Presence of protein in urine (proteinurine) may indicate kidney disease, which does not have significant symptoms at early to middle stages. SATPE can be used to detect proteinurine. The techniques are ready to be used for developing assay kits and portable devices. The development of low-cost, portable, and disposable paper strips for urine detection will benefit health monitoring, especially in developing countries. Key Benefits Low detection limit All the assays do not require pre-modification of the biomacromolecules