Research Interests
The mechanisms of drug transport within the body play a critical role in targeted drug delivery and, thus, in the successful treatment of disease. Our research program aims to understand exactly how such mechanisms work by monitoring, in real time, drug levels (and drug disposition kinetics) in vivo. The results of our work could shed light into, for example, the design of drugs with improved, tissue-specific permeability or into the development of strategies to eliminate transport-dependent drug resistance and toxicity. To accomplish our goals, we pursue three major research tracks:
We rely on biomolecular receptors to achieve specificity in our measurements. We select these via modified systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) approaches, developed either within our group or in the laboratories of partners and collaborators. As a first approach, we are building a library of DNA-based biosensors to develop our ability to track many pharmacological agents in vivo. We are not interested in DNA only, however, and are seeking to develop receptors with other natural and non-natural chemistries. A significant part of our efforts involve the engineering of receptors to support efficient signal transduction to electronic interfaces. Check out some of our efforts in this research track:
- Antibody–Invertase Fusion Protein Enables Quantitative Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Using Widely Available Glucometers. Leonard, E. K.; Pellitero, M.A.; Juelg, B.; Spangler, J.B.; Arroyo-Currás, N.; J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2022, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c02537
- Nanoscale Bioreceptor Layers Comprising Carboxylated Polythiophene for Organic Electrochemical Transistor-Based Biosensors. Song, Y.; Lamberty, Z.D.; Liang, J.; Pellitero, M.A.; Wagner, J.S.; Jumai’an, E.; Bevan, M.A.; Frechette, J.; Arroyo-Currás, N.; Katz, H. E.; ACS Appl. Nano Mater., 2021, DOI:10.1021/acsanm.1c02949
- Detection of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in saliva with Shrinky-Dink© electrodes. Zakashansky, J.A.; Imamura, A.H.; Salgado, D.F.; Romero Mercieca, H.; Aguas, R.F.L.; Lao, A.M.; Pariser, J.; Arroyo-Curras, N.; Khine, M.; Anal. Methods, 2021, DOI: 10.1039/D1AY00041A
- An Electrochemical Biosensor Exploiting Binding-Induced Changes In Electron Transfer Of Electrode-Attached DNA Origami To Detect Hundred Nanometer-Scale Targets. Arroyo-Curras, N.; Sadeia, M.; Ng, A. K.; Fyodorova, Y.; Williams, N.; Afif, T.; Huang, C.; Ogden, N.; Andresen Eguiluz, R.C.; Su, H.; Castro, C. E.; Plaxco, K. W.; Lukeman, P. S.; Nanoscale, 2020, DOI: 10.1039/D0NR00952K
Our ability to detect molecular targets in vivo strongly depends on the characteristics of implantable electronic devices. We focus a part of our efforts on designing and fabricating electronic platforms that tolerate prolonged exposure to biological fluids, are minimally invasive, and enable high signal-to-noise measurements. Moreover, we devote significant efforts to the development of software for the real-time control and processing of electrochemical measurements. Check out some of our publications related to this research track:
- Hydrogel-coating improves the in-vivo stability of electrochemical aptamer-based biosensors. Li, S.; Dai, J.; Zhu, M.; Arroyo-Currás, N.; Li, H.; Wang, Y.; Wang, Q.; Lou, X.; Kippin, T.E.; Wang, S.; Plaxco, K.W.; Li, H.; Xia, F.; bioRxiv, 2020, DOI: 10.1101/2020.11.15.383992
- Alkanethiol Monolayer End Groups Affect the Long-term Operational Stability and Signaling of Electrochemical, Aptamer-based Sensors in Biological Fluids. Shaver, A; Curtis, S.; Arroyo-Currás, N.; ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2020, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b22385
- Open Source Software for the Real-Time Control, Processing, and Visualization of High-Volume Electrochemical Data. Curtis, S.D.; Ploense, K.L.; Kurnik, M.; Ortega, G.; Parolo, C.; Kippin, T.E.; Plaxco, K.W.; Arroyo-Currás, N.; Anal. Chem., 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b02553
Our ultimate goal is to solve important problems in pharmacology. For example, we measure drug transport within the body to characterize any mechanisms involved in the development of drug resistance or toxicity. We are also interested in achieving metabolism-responsive dosing by investigating different types of feedback controllers that can be supported by our continuous measurements. Check out some of our publications related to this research track:
- Optimization of Vancomycin Aptamer Sequence Length Increases the Sensitivity of Electrochemical, Aptamer-Based Sensors In Vivo. Shaver, A.; Mahlum, J.D.; Scida, K.; Johnston, M.L.; Aller Pellitero, M.; Wu, Y.; Carr, G.V.; Arroyo-Currás, N., ACS Sens., 2022,DOI:10.1021/acssensors.2c01910
- Microneedle Aptamer-Based Sensors for Continuous, Real-Time Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. Wu, Y.; Tehrani, F.; Teymourian, H.; Mack, J.; Shaver, A.; Reynoso, M.; Kavner, J.; Huang, N.; Furmidge, A.; Duvvuri, A.; Nie, Y.; Laffel, L. M.; Doyle, F.J. III; Patti, M-E.; Dassau, E.; Wang, J.; Arroyo-Currás, N.; Anal. Chem., 2022, DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c00829
We are continuously reviewing different aspects of our work and challenges in the field of in-vivo biosensing. If you are interested in learning more about what we do, read through some of these published reviews:
- The Challenge of Long-term Stability for Nucleic Acid-based Electrochemical Sensors. Shaver, A.; Arroyo-Curras, N.; Curr. Opin. Electrochem., 2021, DOI: 10.1016/j.coelec.2021.100902
- Advances in Nucleic Acid Architectures for Electrochemical Sensing. Wu, Y.; Arroyo-Curras, N.; Curr. Opin. Electrochem., 2021, DOI: 10.1016/j.coelec.2021.100695
- From the Beaker to the Body: Translational Challenges for Electrochemical, Aptamer-Based Sensors. Arroyo-Currás, N.; Dauphin-Ducharme, P.; Scida, K.; Chavez, J.L.; Anal. Methods, 2020, DOI: 10.1039/D0AY00026D
- Approaches for the Electrochemical Interrogation of DNA-Based Sensors: A Critical Review. Pellitero, M. A.; Shaver, A.; Arroyo-Currás, N.; J. Electrochem. Soc., 2019, DOI: 10.1149/2.0292003JES