18.03.2026, 16:00, E-B4-3007.
Vasily Panferov, Research Centre of Biotechnology RAS.
Nanoparticles with Enzyme-like Catalytic Activities: Fundamentals and Bioanalytical Applications
Abstract:
Nanomaterials exhibiting enzyme-like catalytic activity, known as nanozymes, have emerged as a rapidly developing class of functional materials with diverse applications. Since their discovery, nanozymes have attracted significant attention as promising alternatives to biological enzymes due to their tunable physicochemical properties and catalytic activity, high stability under harsh conditions, and cost-effective large-scale synthesis.
In many studies, nanozymes are treated as functional analogues of natural enzymes. However, accumulating experimental evidence, including our own findings, demonstrates that fundamental mechanistic and kinetic differences exist between enzymes and nanozymes. These differences arise from the heterogeneous nature of nanozyme catalysis, the absence of well-defined active sites, distinct substrate adsorption mechanisms, and the strong influence of surface chemistry and morphology on reaction pathways. As a result, the direct application of classical enzymology concepts to nanozymes can lead to significant misinterpretations.
A systematic comparative evaluation of kinetic parameters for nanozymes and natural oxidoreductase enzymes will be presented, highlighting the remarkable thermal and pH stability of nanozymes. These unique properties have been leveraged to design a range of highly sensitive and specific bioanalytical assays. A wide variety of analytes, including viruses, pathogenic bacteria, antibiotics, inflammatory biomarkers, and toxins, has been successfully detected using nanozyme-based point-of-care assays.
Author's bio:
Vasily Panferov earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2019 from the Federal Research Centre "Fundamentals of Biotechnology" of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His doctoral research focused on antibody-virus interactions and the development of point-of-care assays for pathogens and biomarkers. From 2021 to 2025, he was a postdoctoral researcher at York University (Toronto, Canada) and the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Canada). Currently, Vasily Panferov is a Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Immunobiochemistry at the Federal Research Centre "Fundamentals of Biotechnology" of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on nanoparticles with enzyme-like catalytic activities (nanozymes) and their applications in bioanalytical chemistry.
