New High-selectivity Nanozyme Enables Rapid And Visible Disease Diagnostics

To alteration early test of acute illnesses and effective guidance of chronic conditions, point-of-care testing (POCT) technology—diagnostics conducted adjacent nan patient—is drafting world attention. The cardinal to POCT lies successful enzymes that admit and respond precisely pinch circumstantial substances. However, accepted earthy enzymes are costly and unstable, and nanozymes (enzyme-mimicking catalysts) person suffered from debased guidance selectivity. Now, a Korean investigation squad has developed a high-sensitivity sensor level that achieves 38 times higher selectivity than existing nanozymes and allows illness diagnostics visible to nan naked oculus wrong conscionable 3 minutes.

On nan 28th, KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced that Professor Jinwoo Lee's investigation squad from nan Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, successful collaboration pinch teams led by Professor Jeong Woo Han astatine Seoul National University and Professor Moon Il Kim astatine Gachon University, has developed a caller single-atom catalyst that selectively performs only peroxidase-like reactions while maintaining precocious guidance efficiency.

Using bodily fluids specified arsenic blood, urine, aliases saliva, this diagnostic level enables trial results to beryllium publication wrong minutes moreover extracurricular infirmary settings—greatly improving aesculapian accessibility and ensuring timely treatment. The cardinal lies successful nan ocular discovery of biomarkers (disease indicators) done colour changes triggered by enzyme reactions. However, earthy enzymes are costly and easy degraded successful diagnostic environments, limiting their retention and distribution.

To reside this, inorganic nanozyme materials person been developed arsenic substitutes. Yet, they typically deficiency selectivity—when hydrogen peroxide is utilized arsenic a substrate, nan aforesaid catalyst triggers some peroxidase-like reactions (which origin colour change) and catalase-like reactions (which region nan substrate), reducing diagnostic awesome accuracy.

To power catalyst selectivity astatine nan atomic level, nan researchers utilized an innovative structural design: attaching chlorine (Cl) ligands successful a three-dimensional configuration to nan cardinal ruthenium (Ru) atom to fine-tune its chemic properties. This enabled them to isolate only nan desired diagnostic signal.

Experimental results showed that nan caller catalyst achieved complete 38-fold betterment successful selectivity compared to existing nanozymes, pinch importantly accrued sensitivity and velocity successful detecting hydrogen peroxide. Even successful near-physiological conditions (pH 6.0), nan catalyst maintained its performance, proving its applicability successful real-world diagnostics.

By incorporating nan catalyst and oxidase into a paper-based sensor, nan squad created a strategy that could simultaneously observe 4 cardinal biomarkers related to health: glucose, lactate, cholesterol, and choline—all pinch a elemental colour change.

This level is broadly applicable crossed various illness diagnostics and tin present results wrong 3 minutes without analyzable instruments aliases pH adjustments. The findings show that diagnostic capacity tin beryllium dramatically improved without changing nan level itself, but alternatively by engineering nan catalyst structure.

Professor Jinwoo Lee of KAIST commented, "This study is important successful that it simultaneously achieves enzyme-level selectivity and reactivity by structurally designing single-atom catalysts." He added that "the structure-function-based catalyst creation strategy tin beryllium extended to nan improvement of various metal-based catalysts and different guidance domains wherever selectivity is critical."

Seonhye Park and Daeeun Choi, some Ph.D. candidates astatine KAIST, are co-first authors. The investigation was published connected July 6, 2025, successful nan prestigious diary Advanced Materials.