TUBITAK 2218
01 Aug 2023-01 Aug 2025
6000USD

Summary

Targeted particles are used primarily in diagnosis and/or treating regional diseases for which surgery is impossible. Hybrid particles in organosilica structures are frequently preferred to obtain targeted particles because they are both biocompatible and suitable for different surface modifications in materials science studies. These structures are generally obtained by silica precursors and conventional (Stober, sol-gel, etc.) synthesis.

Within the scope of the project, it was aimed for the first time in the literature to polymerize the cage-structured POSS molecule with the green synthesis procedure and to obtain these particles with different fluorescence properties by using continuous-microfluidic reactor systems as an alternative to conventional batch reactors and known organosilica precursors. The fact that the particles are suitable for surface modification facilitates target molecule modification. Aptamers are short artificial DNA or RNA sequences that bind a specific target molecule. Like antibodies used for similar purposes in biotechnology and medicine, these molecules that can show strong selective binding to their targets will be attached to the synthesized fluorescent hybrid particles. The aptamer-attached fluorescence particles developed in the study aimed to be used as aptasensors in diagnosing bacteria.