Prof. B？rje Sellergren from Malm？ University in Sweden visited Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry (XTIPC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from Sep 26 to 28. During his visit, Prof. Sellergren gave an invited academic report entitled Smart Capture Materials and Probes for Bio- analysis and Discovery.   

In his lecture, Prof. Sellergren began with examples of Carboxypeptidase A, Immunoglobuline G, Streptavidin, then he gave a brief introduction of molecular recognition mechanism. He highlighted the features and advantages of molecular imprinting technique. Prof. Sellergren proposed that based on combinatorial libraries of polymers formed out of 20 monomers, the immune system generates antibodies that can complement essentially any given antigen. From a significantly smaller set of building blocks molecular imprinting is used to produce recognitive polymers (molecularly imprinted polymers, MIPs) with binding affinities sometimes on a par with antibodies. Their sturdiness, straightforward synthesis and low cost are features warranting a broad interest in these materials for molecular recognition based applications in the life sciences.  

Prof. Sellergren reviewed recent efforts in his group to develop micro- or nano-beaded MIPs for binding biological target molecules (e.g. peptides, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids) and their post-translationally modified forms (phosphorylated, sulphated, glycosylated) and how such receptors could be used to provide a new insight into the occurance and loci of post-translational modifications as well as in situ probes to detect and quantify their cellular expression level. In Prof. Sellergren’s work, he demonstrated that molecular imprinting could be a powerful tool for isolating, detecting a specific molecule and for discovering new molecules. 

After the seminar, the faculty and students at XTIPC had in-depth discussions with Prof. Sellergren.  Prof. ZHANG Yagang at XTIPC and Prof. Sellergren proposed possibility both expressed interests of  students and young scholar exchange and scientific collaboration in the future.  

Dr. Sellergren is a professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Society, Malm？ University, Sweden. He is one of the pioneers and leaders in the field of molecular imprinting and is well-known for his efforts for developing molecularly imprinted polymers targeting peptides, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids which are really challenging. He is currently the vice president of international Molecular Imprinting Society.