Site-Directed Electrochemical Grafting for Amplified Detection of Antibody Pharmaceuticals.

Antibody pharmaceuticals have become the most popular immunotherapeutic drugs and are often administered with low serum drug dosages. Hence, the development of a highly sensitive method for the quantitative assay of antibody levels is of great importance to individualized therapy. On the basis of the dual signal amplification by the glycan-initiated site-directed electrochemical grafting of polymer chains (glyGPC), we report herein a novel strategy for the amplified electrochemical detection of antibody pharmaceuticals. The target of interest was affinity captured by a DNA aptamer ligand, and then the glycans of antibody pharmaceuticals were decorated with the alkyl halide initiators (AHIs) via boronate cross-linking, followed by the electrochemical grafting of the ferrocenyl polymer chains from the glycans of antibody pharmaceuticals through the electrochemically controlled atom transfer radical polymerization (eATRP). As the glycans can be decorated with multiple AHIs and the grafted polymer chains are composed of tens to hundreds of electroactive tags, the glyGPC-based strategy permits the dually amplified electrochemical detection of antibody pharmaceuticals. In the presence of trastuzumab (Herceptin) as the target, the glyGPC-based strategy achieved a detection limit of 71.5 pg/mL. Moreover, the developed method is highly selective, and the results of the quantitative assay of trastuzumab levels in human serum are satisfactory. Owing to its uncomplicated operation and cost-effectiveness, the glyGPC-based strategy shows great promise in the amplified electrochemical detection of antibody pharmaceuticals.

Prediction of Thermo-Mechanical Properties of 8-Harness Satin-Woven C/C Composites by Asymptotic Homogenization.

The elasticity matrix and the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) of 8-harness satin-woven (8HS) carbon-fiber-reinforced carbon matrix (C/C) composites at high temperatures were obtained by the asymptotic homogenization method (AHM) and finite element method (FEM). By analyzing the microstructure of the 8HS C/C composites, a representative volume element (RVE) model considering a braided structure was established. The effects of the temperature and component volume fraction on the elasticity matrix and CTEs of the composites were investigated. The sensitivity of model parameters, including the size of RVE model and mesh sensitivity, were studied. The optimal calculation model was employed. In addition, the effects of the 4HS methods and 8HS methods on the elastic constants of the composites were compared. The temperature and variation in the carbon fiber volume fraction were found to have a significant impact on the elasticity matrix and CTEs of composite materials. At the same volume fraction of carbon fibers, some elastic coefficients of the 4HS composite material were slightly lower than those of 8HS composite material. This research affords a computational strategy for the accurate prediction of the themo-mechanical properties of satin-woven C/C composites.