Biology subjects

Liu, G. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Liu, G. L..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

AI-guided discovery of natural pocket proteins for portable small-molecule sensing

Recognition-element development remains an important practical challenge in small-molecule biosensing. Here, we present DWCLASS, an AI-guided workflow that combines screening of natural pocket proteins, molecular dynamics simulations, experimental binding assessment, and portable metasurface plasmonic sensing. Using thiamine (vitamin B1, thiamine) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] as model analytes, the workflow identified binding responses in 7 of 16 tested analyte-protein pairs (43.8%). Selected proteins were incorporated into a competitive MetaSPR assay with gold nanoparticle amplification and acoustic mixing. The portable device provided a 240 s measurement step for prepared samples. Serum LODs were 2.98 ppt for thiamine and 3.82 ppt for 25(OH)D. Preliminary measurements of human serum specimens were compared with commercial ELISA to explore performance in biological samples. This study establishes an integrated route from AI-assisted screening of natural proteins to portable assay development for two chemically distinct vitamin analytes. Applicability to additional targets and clinical reference accuracy remain to be established.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2020

One-Step Rapid Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 Virus Particles via Low-Cost Nanoplasmonic Sensors in Generic Microplate Reader and Point-of-Care Device

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the ongoing global pandemics has led to infections of millions of people and losses of many lives. The rapid, accurate and convenient SARS-CoV-2 virus detection is crucial for controlling and stopping the pandemics. Diagnosis of patients in the early stage infection are so far limited to viral nucleic acid or antigen detection in human nasopharyngeal swab or saliva samples. Here we developed a method for rapid and direct optical measurement of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in one step nearly without any sample preparation using a spike protein specific nanoplasmonic resonance sensor. We demonstrate that we can detect as few as 30 virus particles in one step within 15 minutes and can quantify the virus concentration linearly in the range of 103 vp/ml to 106 vp/ml. Measurements shown on both generic microplate reader and a handheld smartphone connected device suggest that our low-cost and rapid detection method may be adopted quickly under both regular clinical environment and resource-limited settings.

bioengineering↗