Inorganic Binding Peptides with Electro-Activated Properties via Phage Display Techniques

A biosensor is an analytical device that can specifically, rapidly, and continuously convert a biological/chemical response into an electric signal, which makes it a powerful tool for biomedical diagnosis. However, one of the challenges of biosensors is the ability for continuous detection. It is difficult to avoid the loss of activity following the bioreceptor-analyte binding event, which limits the lifetime of the device. The goal of this research is to use phage display to biopan for inorganic binding peptides that are reversible upon application of an electric field. This can provide dynamic functionalization of surfaces, with applications such as self-cleaning devices. Our group has been biopanning for peptides that bind strongly to indium zinc oxide (IZO), a transparent conducting oxide. An electro-releasing device is being used to collect the strong binding peptides that are released. In an alternative method, our group is also developing a novel phage display biopanning protocol with an electro-elution process instead of the regular chemical elution.