Nanocluster epitope presentation

Summary form only given. A fundamental goal at the intersection of nanotechnology, immunological function and nanomedicine is the design of biologically active interfaces. Recently, we have developed both linear and conformational loop peptides on nanoclusters that mimic immunological epitopes. The nanocluster-epitope interface was studied using a quartz crystal microbalance to examine the detailed kinetic and thermodynamic binding parameters of the nanocluster-peptide interface with antibodies. These results demonstrate that the conformational loop epitopes effectively recapitulate the native protein loop conformations, paving the way for new methods of epitope screening, monitoring of immunological challenge and the design of novel nano-based multivalent vaccines