Breakthrough in Nanotechnology: Researchers Develop High-Capacity Adsorbents for Protein Capture

Strategic Insights -

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have made a significant breakthrough in nanotechnology by developing high-capacity adsorbents for specific capture of lysozyme from egg white. The team introduced a novel approach by functional imprinting layers onto three-dimensional poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) nanofibrous aerogels (PVA-co-PE NFAs), resulting in extreme high adsorption capacity (1010.33 mg/g), which is superior to current reported imprinted protein adsorbents. The developed adsorbents not only exhibit reusability upon 10 cycles but also retain the initial secondary structure and biological activity of the captured lysozyme.

Key Takeaways:

  • The researchers introduced a novel approach to develop surface molecularly imprinted polymers for lysozyme specific capture by functional imprinting layers onto PVA-co-PE NFAs.
  • The developed adsorbents showed an extreme high adsorption capacity (1010.33 mg/g), surpassing the currently reported imprinted protein adsorbents.
  • The adsorbents exhibited reusability upon 10 cycles, maintaining the initial secondary structure and biological activity of the captured lysozyme.
  • The team used citric acid (CA) modified PVA-co-PE NFAs as a substrate to immobilize the target lysozyme and dopamine (DA) as a functional monomer to generate imprinting layers with controllable thickness.
  • The research was conducted by Karl I. Jacob and his team at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Yufei Qiao, Jianwei Lu, and Li Guo.
  • The study has been peer-reviewed and published in Food Chemistry.

Statistics:

  • Adsorption capacity of the developed adsorbents: 1010.33 mg/g
  • Imprinting factor (IF) of the developed adsorbents: 1.53
  • Number of cycles the adsorbents exhibited reusability: 10
  • Initial secondary structure and biological activity of the captured lysozyme: retained after immobilization

Sources:

  • Facile fabrication of surface imprinted polymers based on nanofibrous aerogels for specific capture of lysozyme form egg white. Food Chemistry, 2025;484:144449
  • NewsRx. Georgia Institute of Technology Reports Findings in Nanofibers (Facile fabrication of surface imprinted polymers based on nanofibrous aerogels for specific capture of lysozyme form egg white). Nanotechnology Weekly. May 12, 2025; p 380.