Novel Optical Biosensors for Hazardous Ions

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0097442ThompsonThe objective of this research is the development of new fluorescence-based sensors with high sensitivity and accuracy for important industrial analytes for which current chemical sensors are inadequate or nonexistent. In earlier work the investigators demonstrated that carbonic anhydrase-based biosensors were capable of transducing the levels of certain transition metals as changes in fluorescence intensity, lifetime, and anisotropy. These sensors were able to rapidly and continuously determine transition metal ions such copper and zinc at sub-part per billion levels in the presence of calcium and magnesium at million-fold higher concentrations. In this research the metal ion approach will be extended for the detection of the heavy metals lead, mercury and cadmium. The bulk of the engineering effort in this phase of the research will occur at the molecular level, in the construction of the fluorescent transducer/recognition molecules and determination of their properties. In addition, a previously developed approach, which uses fluorescence lifetime to detect anions such as cyanide and cyanate, will be adapted for the determination of the anions chromate, arsenate, and nitrate.