Kwangwoon University

About: Kwangwoon University is a education organization based out in Seoul, South Korea. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Thin film & Resonator. The organization has 4020 authors who have published 8217 publications receiving 104365 citations.

Non-invasive screening for Alzheimer's disease by sensing salivary sugar using Drosophila cells expressing gustatory receptor (Gr5a) immobilized on an extended gate ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (EG-ISFET) biosensor.

Abstract: Body fluids are often used as specimens for medical diagnosis. With the advent of advanced analytical techniques in biotechnology, the diagnostic potential of saliva has been the focus of many studies. We recently reported the presence of excess salivary sugars, in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In the present study, we developed a highly sensitive, cell-based biosensor to detect trehalose levels in patient saliva. The developed biosensor relies on the overexpression of sugar sensitive gustatory receptors (Gr5a) in Drosophila cells to detect the salivary trehalose. The cell-based biosensor was built on the foundation of an improved extended gate ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (EG-ISFET). Using an EG-ISFET, instead of a traditional ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET), resulted in an increase in the sensitivity and reliability of detection. The biosensor was designed with the gate terminals segregated from the conventional ISFET device. This design allows the construction of an independent reference and sensing region for simultaneous and accurate measurements of samples from controls and patients respectively. To investigate the efficacy of the cell-based biosensor for AD screening, we collected 20 saliva samples from each of the following groups: participants diagnosed with AD, participants diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD), and a control group composed of healthy individuals. We then studied the response generated from the interaction of the salivary trehalose of the saliva samples and the Gr5a in the immobilized cells on an EG-ISFET sensor. The cell-based biosensor significantly distinguished salivary sugar, trehalose of the AD group from the PD and control groups. Based on these findings, we propose that salivary trehalose, might be a potential biomarker for AD and could be detected using our cell-based EG-ISFET biosensor. The cell-based EG-ISFET biosensor provides a sensitive and direct approach for salivary sugar detection and may be used in the future as a screening method for AD.

Potential degradation of methylene blue (MB) by nano-metallic particles: A kinetic study and possible mechanism of MB degradation

Abstract: The degradation of methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous solution by nano-metallic particles (NMPs) was studied to evaluate the possibility of applying NMPs to remove MB from the wastewater. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the synthesized NMPs before and after the reaction. The effects of the NMP dosage, the initial pH, the initial concentration of MB and the amount of H2O2 on the MB degradation outcomes were studied. The highest removal rate of MB was achieved to be 100% with an initial MB concentration of 5 mg/L, followed by 99.6% with an initial concentration of 10 mg/L under the following treatment conditions: dose of NMP of 0.15 g/L, concentration of H2O2-100 mM and a temperature of 25C. The SEM analysis revealed that the nano particles were not spherical in shape. FTIR spectra shows occurrence of metal oxides on the surfaces of the NMPs. The XPS analyses results represent that Fe, Zn, N, Ca, C and O were occurred on the surfaces of the NMPs. The degradation of MB was suitable for the pseudo-first-order kinetics.

Pattern-Reconfigurable MIMO Antenna for High Isolation and Low Correlation

Abstract: In this letter, a reconfigurable radiation pattern antenna for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) applications on mobile devices is proposed. The operating frequency band of the antenna is 5.15-5.35 GHz for a wireless local area network (WLAN) 802.11a service. Each antenna is composed of a loop-and-dipole structure, as well as two switches for the reconfigurable radiation pattern, to generate a beam in three different directions. The proposed antenna is designed to have an orthogonally directional radiation pattern with high isolation and a low-correlation coefficient in the MIMO environment.