Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
The 49th FEBS Congress, İstanbul, Türkiye, 5 - 09 Temmuz 2025, cilt.15, ss.337, (Özet Bildiri)
Increasing environmental pollution, urbanization, and industrial activities lead to the spread of toxic heavy metals, posing serious health risks due to their accumulation in tissues, membrane and DNA damage, disruption of enzyme and protein activity. Therefore, detecting the levels of highly toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, and mercury in real human samples is crucial for public health and environmental risk assessment. Amyloid fibril (AF) and graphene oxide (GO) structures have recently gained attention in biosensor applications. AFs are protein aggregates consisting predominantly of β-sheets, exhibiting a highly ordered structure and having high mechanical strength, stability, and biocompatibility, while GO, a graphene derivative, provides a large surface area, high ionic and electrical conductivity, and functional groups that enhance biomolecule immobilization and electron transfer. A hybrid AF-GO composite was designed as a promising option for selective and simultaneous heavy metal detection. AFs were synthesized using a sustainable approach from β-lactoglobulin which was partially purified from whey. β-lactoglobulin purity was determined by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and the formation of AF from purified protein was evaluated by Congo Red staining using red shift of its characteristic absorbance spectrum peak from 490 to 512 nm. GO was synthesized by modified Hummer's method, Graphene papers containing mixtures of AF-GO were obtained and the electrical conductivity of the obtained paper was achieved by thermal reduction. The SWV method was employed to anodically strip electrodeposited heavy metals in buffered HCl (pH 2) by scanning electrode potential from -1.0 to -0.2 V. Distinct stripping peaks at different potentials allowed simultaneous quantification of multiple metals using calibration curves. The study's findings hold potential for the development of biosensors that can identify heavy metals in actual human samples like blood and serum.