Unique synthetic antibodies show promise for improved disease and toxin detection

Scientists have invented a new "synthetic antibody" that could make screening for diseases easier and less expensive than current go-to methods. Writing in the journal Nano Letters, a team led by Markita Landry of Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley describes how peptoids – synthetically produced molecules, first created by Ron Zuckermann at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry, that are similar to protein-building peptides – and tiny cylinders of carbon atoms known as single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be combined to selectively bind a target protein.

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