Thesis presented November 17, 2020

Abstract:
Artificial noses have a great application potential in various industrial fields, from quality control to medical diagnosis. Many of these applications require the detection of a target molecule with certainty in a complex environment, sometimes at a very low concentration. However, the sensitivity and selectivity of today's artificial noses are still far from matching those of their biological source of inspiration. In this context, our team has been developing since 2012 an optoelectronic nose for the detection of volatile organic compounds in the gas phase. It is based on an array of peptide sensing materials and a transduction by surface plasmon resonance imaging. This thesis explores three strategies for the development of new biomimetic sensing materials to improve its performance. We propose, firstly, to integrate proteins naturally present in the nose into the system, secondly, to select peptides in vitro by phage display, and thirdly, to use virtual screening. The implementation of these three promising methods allows a better understanding of their different technical issues in order to be able to adapt promptly our device to the needs of its final users in the future.

Keywords:
Phage display, Volatile organic compound, Odorant binding protein, Virtual screening, Surface plasmon resonance imaging, Artificial nose

On-line thesis.