The 8th International
Conference on Molecular Imprinting was held on September 18-21, 2014 in
Zhenjiang, China, under the auspices of Jiangsu University. Chairman of the
conference was Songjun Li, President of the Chinese Advanced Materials Socitey.
This first Asian meeting in the field attracted ca 300 delegates predominantly
from the academic sector. The contributions covered a wide range of subjects
and applications the latter mainly dealing with various aspects related to life
and analytical sciences. The broad scope confirms the versatility of the simple
concept of imparting molecular memory into a polymer and its relevance in very
different technology contexts.
The conference featured 85
oral presentations and 41 posters bridging many areas ranging from basic
molecularly imprinted polymer design (molecular recognition aspects,
computational design, combinatorial approaches), polymer chemistry (MIPs
prepared by free radical polymerization, electropolymerization, sol gels, controlled
radical polymerization), materials chemistry (hierarchical imprinting,
nanocomposites, novel architectures) with special emphasis on nanosized MIPs
(nanoparticles, films, tubes, solid phase synthesised MIPs) and the integration
of MIPs in sensors, as catalysts, selective adsorbents, diagnostic tools,
therapeutic agents (e.g. MIP drugs) or for various separation tasks. The oral
presentations were divided into two plenary sessions featuring seven plenary
lectures and three blocks of two parallel sessions each preceeded by one key
note lecture and other contributions in no topical order.Figure. 1 The MIP 2014 conference hotel
Day 1
The first morning plenary
lecture was given by Klaus Mosbach (Lund University, Sweden), one of the
pioneers in the field. In his lecture he looked back on the early developments
in the field discussing his own work on enzyme immobilization and affinity
chromatography and its influence on the early developments in the field. The
talk ended with a philosophical outlook addressing the poor industrial
participation and possible reasons for the lack of tangible commercial
progress.
The second plenary speaker
was Yukui Zhang (Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China) who discussed
various forms of protein imprinted materials for affinity applications in
proteomics research. Significant progress was reported using the epitope
imprinting concept, typically employing peptides corresponding to solvent
accessible terminal sequences as templates for generating protein recognitive
particles. This approach seems to gain
ground as indicated by other talks during the symposium (I-066, I-052). The third plenary talk was given by Karsten
Haupt (Universite de Technologie de Compiegne, FR) who gave valuable insights
into the factors influencing the recognitive properties of MIP nanoparticles
and ways to improve them. Several interesting approaches for producing protein
sized MIP particles and novel architectures were presented, comprising the use
of dendritic multi-iniferters, immobilized templates or anchoring monomers and
the coating of MIP films on various cores, the latter adapted for applications
in sensing or cell imaging. The use of MIPs as contrast agents in cell imaging
was also a recurring subject during the conference featured in talks by Meiping
Zhao (I-006) and Börje Sellergren (PL-007).
The afternoon session A of
day one opened with a key note lecture by Ian Nicholls (Linnaeus University,
Sweden) outlining novel approaches to hierarchical polymer architectures for
mainly sensing applications. Using biotin as a model template, imprinting using
both soft (liquid crystals) and hard (latex particles) templating was described
and critically compared and several interesting results were presented.
This was followed by
contributed lectures covering electrochemical sensors (I-002, I-072), molecular
modeling of MIP formation (I-004) and heavy metal ion-imprinting for
environmental analysis (I-005). Electrochemical sensors was also a recurring
subject during the conference, notably in the talks by Wlodzimierz Kutner
(I-032, Warsaw, Poland) and Jinaping Li (I-046, Guilin Uinversity, China).
The second keynote lecture
of this session was given by Meiping Zhao (Peking University). This speaker
outlined a rational approach to the synthesis of multifunctional biologically
active enzyme inhibiting nanoparticles. Employing RAFT chemistry, nuclease
imprinted shell/magnetic core particles were synthesised and optimized for
magnetic field mediated transfer into cell nucleus. Interestingly, both
selective inhibition and cell internalization could be demonstrated using
fluorescently trackable particles.
The remaining talks during
this session covered the well proven application of MIPs as solid phase
extraction sorbents for sensitive analysis (I-061, I-007, I-009). This
application was also the subject of numerous other talks of the conference.
Session B opened with a talk
given by Lei Ye (Lund University, Sweden) which described various approaches to
produce multifunctional MIP nanoparticles. The versatility of the click
reaction for joining complementary functionalized nanoparticles was
highlighted. Chemistries for derivatizing RAFT containing particles was also
described.
The use of controlled
radical polymerization, notably RAFT chemistry, was also the subject of a later
key note talk by Huiqi Zhang (I-076, Nankai University). His technique of controlled radical
precipitation polymerization allows for controlled synthesis of hydrophilic
MIPs, of controlled size and low polydispersity, compatible with a variety of
biological and food matrices.
Following talks in this
session covered heavy metal removal (I-012), electropolymerized MIPs (I-014)
and sensors (I-015 and I-063).
The second afternoon session
B opened with a keynote lecture given by Junqiu Liu (Jilin University, China)
on MIP based enzyme mimics. Recent work on artificial selenoenzymes was
described in the talk.
Among the following contributed talks a procedure for generating non-thiol based Au-C surface grafted MIP films on gold nanorods can be mentioned. This could offer a straightforward way to produce gold-MIP nanocomposites (I-019). Finally a demonstration of an electrochemical or heat transfer sensor for sensitive measurements of neurotransmitters or nicotine in body fluids (I-020) was reported.
Day 2
During day 2, session A opened
with a key note talk by Elena Piletska (University of Leicester, UK) on new
formats for molecularly imprinted polymers providing a critical discussion on
their relative merits and limitations.
Gilke de Middeleer (Ghent
University, NL) adressed the well known need for rapid and simple testing
methods for mycotoxins in food. The solution proposed was a platform for
multiplex mycotoxin analysis comprising a porous scaffold with regular
structure capable of harboring geometrically addressable MIP nanoparticles. A similar approach was later described by
Maria Moreno Bondi (I-034, University of Madrid, Spain) and in the later
key-note presentation by Guillermo Orellana (I-051, University of Madrid,
Spain) for the preparation of arrays with optically addressable nanoparticles
complementary to fluoroquinolone antimicrobials.
The second morning keynote
in Session A was delivered by Songjun Li (Jiangsu University, China) who
addressed challenges in the development of MIP based catalysts, notably those
that are designed to feature thermo-switchable properties.The talk was followed
by contributions comprising topics like vesicular imprinting (I-027) and
MIP-pills (I-028).
The Session B morning
session featured David Spivak (Lousiana State University, US) as key-note
lecturer. He reported on a highly sensitive diffraction grating sensor for
virus detection relying on virusimprinted aptamer hydrogels. Impressive
sensitivity enhancements were achieved by employing two complementary aptamers
targeting the virus surface.Figure. 2 David Spivak, chairman of MIP2010, enjoying the view over Zhenjiang.
This talk was followed by
Wlodzimierz Kutner (I-032, Warsaw University, Poland) who reported on rational
approaches for imprinting in conducting polymer scaffolds and how to combine
the polymers with various sensor transducers. This simple approach to generate
imprinted films is growing in popularity as indicated by other contributions
during the conference.
Three talks followed
focusing on synthetic chemistry. Two of the talks covered host guest chemistry
and synthetic approaches to improve the binding of small molecules to MIP
receptors. Hence, Yuejin Tong (I-033, Fuijan University, China) reported on a
sacrifical spacer approach to the recognition of diphenylethers while Andrew
Hall (I-035, Medway University, UK) described a generic dummy template approach
for imprinting carbohydrate containing targets. Paolo Bonomi (I-069, University
of Compiegne, FR) delivered a talk on water soluble iniferters for producing
nanomaterials for biological applications.
Romana Schirhagl (Stanford
University, US) finally concluded the morning session with a talk on MIPs for
cell chromatography. Bacteria
recognitive surfaces produced by a stamping process could be used to
selectively separate bacteria when placed in a microfluidic channel. The
separation efficiency depended on the cell orientation which was subsequently
exploited by producing anisotropic imprints oriented along the direction of the
flow path.
The afternoon session A
featured a key note lecture by Kal Karim (Leicester University, UK) providing
an overview of the use of molecular modelling in MIP design, a now widespread
and increasingly powerful tool for predicting and understanding polymer
performance.
Several talks were devoted
to MIPs and NIPs for omics applications. Apart from those already discussed
relying on traditional protein or epitope imprinting many talks addressed the
need for alternative affinity techniques in targeted proteomics i.e. to enrich
posttranslationally modified (PTM) proteins.
The talks by Jing Chen (Ruhr University Bochum) and Feng Shen (China
Agricultural University) addressed the need for improved enrichment techniques
in phosphoproteomics. In the talk by
Jing Chen, a robust and effective method for side chain selective
phosphopeptide enrichment was described. This allowed the identification of a
large number of unique phosphopeptides and the discovery of novel previously
unknown sites of phosphorylation from extremely small sample sizes. The aspect of MIP based biodiscovery was
later emphasised in the final plenary talk by Börje Sellergren (Malmö
University) where MIPs targetting different PTMs and bioactive lipids were
described. The latter subject had been previously described in more detail in
the talk by Federico Torta (National University of Singapore).
Alessandra Bossi (University
of Verona) reported a simple approach to targeted proteomics relying on peptide
imprinted polymers capturing proteotypic peptides prior to MALDI mass
spectrometry. The approach was demonstrated for three peptides typic for one
protein, troponine I. Applying the three
corresponding MIPs on the MALDI target post enrichment from digested spiked
serum samples led to signficant enhancements of the signals corresponding to
the three proteotypic peptides.
In a key note presentation
by Zhen Liu (Nanjing University, China) a versatile platform for the
recognition and sensing of glycoproteins was reported. This addresses a field
in strong need of improved recognition chemistry. Highly sensitive ELISA like
assays was reported and in particular those bypassing the need for both
detection antibodies and enzymes should be noted.Figure. 3 David Spivak and Börje Sellergren.
Day 3
Due to the unfortunate
health related absence of the SMI president, Michael Whitcombe, the final
plenary session contained only three talks. The session was opened by Kenneth
J. Shea who described a new paradigm in molecular recognition somewhat
reminiscent of the immunoresponse. This is based on the notion that loosely
crosslinked "adaptable" high polymers exceeding a certain number of
repeat units and monomers exhibit sufficient diversity for specific polymer
chains showing affinity for a guest molecule, e.g. a protein, to exist. This concept was demonstrated by showing a
number of independent examples addressing protein capture, protein depletion
and diagnostics or therapeutic applications e.g. inhibition of cell surface
interactions.
This lecture was then followed by an equally fascinating talk by Sergey Piletsky (University of Leicester, UK) describing MIP nanoparticles synthesised by a generic solid state synthesis protocol. The versatiliy of this approach was shown by a number of examples using particles as capture phases in ELISA assays, in imaging, in sensors or for therapeutic applications, some of the latter very similar to those addressed in the preceeding talk. It remains to be seen how these two approaches to generate recognitive particles compare with each other.
The poster session included
31 posters with 13 posters covering applications in the areas of food analysis
(3), environmental technologies (5) and pharmaceutical analysis (5). 7 posters
covered methodological and fundamental aspects of MIP synthesis and characterization
whereas the remaining posters covered omics sciences, protein recognition,
therapeutics and catalysis in roughly equal proportions.
Figure. 4 Stroll along the Yangtsee river.
Malmö, October 8, 2015
Börje Sellergren
Posted on 8 October 2015 at 21:07:25 by Börje Sellergren | |