Clarkson University Researchers Contribute to Breakthrough Biosensor Technology Published in Nature Biotechnology

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Clarkson University researchers are part of an international team developing a new biosensor technology that could make medical testing faster, more affordable and more widely available by turning the detection of biological substances into simple electrical signals that can be read by common devices.

Research Associate Professor Oleh Smutok and Evgeny Katz, the Milton Kerker Chair in Colloid Science, of Clarkson University's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, contributed to the work, which was published in Nature Biotechnology, a leading international journal in the life sciences.

The research introduces "smart" proteins designed with the help of machine learning. These proteins act like switches, turning on only when they detect a specific substance. When activated, they produce signals that can be easily measured, allowing for accurate detection of biological targets.

The Clarkson team helped show how these engineered proteins can be used on specially prepared electrodes to detect hormones in human samples with high sensitivity. In simple terms, the system converts the presence of a target substance directly into an electrical signal. This approach could allow common devices, such as glucometers, to be adapted for many different types of tests by using customized protein sensors.

This advancement could lead to a new generation of portable, low-cost diagnostic tools with applications in health care, environmental monitoring and biotechnology.

The study was led by Professor Kirill Alexandrov of the QUT School of Biology and Environmental Science and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology. It includes seven research teams from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Among the collaborators is a University of Washington team led by Professor David Baker, a 2024 Nobel Prize laureate.

Nature Biotechnology is one of the world's leading journals in the life sciences, known for publishing highly selective research with strong scientific impact and innovation. The monthly journal publishes new concepts in technology/methodology of relevance to the biological, biomedical, agricultural and environmental sciences as well as covers the commercial, political, ethical, legal, and societal aspects of this research.

The full study, "Artificial allosteric protein switches with machine learning-designed receptors," is available as an open-access publication in Nature Biotechnology.