This proposal presents an approach to resolving a critical and enduring obstacle to developing dependable biosensor systems for the timely detection of toxic and infectious agents. This device is vital to the protection of military personnel and of civilians in industrial and densely populated environments. BSI Corporation proposes to develop a passivated sensor surface which will associate uniquely with the specific binding protein in its crude source solution and, upon activation by light, covalently bond this protein functionally oriented in a stabilizing, biomolecule-compatible environment A trifunctional amino acid will be derivatized on one site with a photoactivatable reagent capable upon illumination of forming covalent bonds with essentially any organic target group (including all proteins) under mild reaction conditions. This reagent will then be thermochemically bonded to a ligand for the specific binding protein and to the sensor surface previously passivated with BSI's Photolink photoreactive hydrogel, to provide an essentially aqueous environment containing chosen ligand and photoreactive groups adjacent on the sensor surface. These reagents are especially useful with antibodies and fusion proteins from genetic engineering technology. This approach thus presents an innovative combination of affinity chromatography and photoaffinity labeling technologies to provide a cost-effective link between genetic engineering products and sensor devices.
