GOALI: Carbon dots and squarylium dyes for sensing, screening, and separations

在国家科学基金会化学部化学测量和成像计划的资助下，维克森林大学的Christa Colyer教授正在开发增强药物筛选的新策略。该项目使用学术界与工业界联络的赠款机会（GOALI）计划，以支持与Ameritox有限公司的Greg McIntire博士的学术界与工业界的伙伴关系。 该研究项目还包括一个国际组成部分，涉及学生旅行的机会，与日本合作者参与。因此，这项工作也得到了国际科学和工程办公室的支持。这项工作是为了应对“浴盐”等特制药物的出现以及最近州一级的立法变化。基础研究转化为分析工具，能够解决法医检测，执法和药物监测行业面临的这些市场驱动和社会相关问题。在此背景下，纳米材料开发、荧光传感和高分辨率分子分离等领域的进展正在进行中。研究项目包括：（一）工业界之间的真正伙伴关系（Ameritox有限公司）;和学术界（维克森林大学），使近距离和成功的先前机构的互动;（ii）学生接触行业的做法和标准，作为一种途径，职业准备，以补充他们的本科和博士学位。化学培训;以及（iii）加强国际合作（与日本大坂府和琦玉大学），提供配体开发和荧光染料合成方面的专业知识。这些活动加速了拟议的研究，同时为参与学生的全球和文化能力的发展提供了机会。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括全球科学合作的国际研究和文化敏感性，翻转分析化学课堂的案例研究开发，在仪器设计和增材制造领域开发实验室课程，为公立学校提供低成本的分析工具，以加强教育。通过学术界和工业界的伙伴关系，加强药物筛查，该研究项目利用瞬时等速电泳的聚焦效应特性，在自由溶液、基于毛细管的电分离中提供增强的灵敏度和分辨率。进展包括柱上标记与新的，功能化的方酸染料的设计，和改进的分析物歧视的基础上，多个判别分析。这些组分有助于选择性测定复杂样品基质中的药物和药物代谢物（如合成卡西酮和葡糖苷酸代谢物），这是药物监测行业确认测试的要求。此外，快速发现DNA适体形式的功能配体的能力，能够筛选药物靶标，代表了酶免疫测定筛选程序的普遍使用的替代方案。这项研究使用碳点来荧光标记和改变未结合的DNA库成员的迁移率，从而加快针对特定靶点的DNA适体发现。

With funding from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program of the National Science Foundation's Chemistry Division, Professor Christa Colyer of Wake Forest University is developing new strategies for enhanced drug screening. This project uses the Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program to support an academic - industry partnership with Dr. Greg McIntire of Ameritox, Ltd.. This research project also includes an international component, that involves student travel opportunities to engage with Japanese collaborators. Thus, this work is also supported by the Office of International Science and Engineering. The work responds to the emergence of designer drugs such as "bath salts" as well as to recent legislative changes at the state level. Basic research is translated into analytical tools capable of addressing these market-driven and socially-relevant issues facing the forensic testing, law enforcement, and medication monitoring industries. Within this context, advances in the areas of nanomaterials development, fluorescence sensing, and high-resolution molecular separations, are being pursued. The research project includes: (i) a genuine partnership between industry (Ameritox, Ltd.) and academia (Wake Forest University), enabled by close proximity and successful prior institutional interactions; (ii) exposure of students to industry practices and standards as a path to career readiness to complement their undergraduate and Ph.D. chemistry training; and (iii) enhanced international collaborations (with Osaka Prefecture and Saitama Universities in Japan), offering expertise in ligand development and fluorescent dye synthesis. These activities accelerate the proposed research while providing opportunities for the development of increased global and cultural competencies of the involved students. The broader impacts of this research include an international study and cultural sensitivity for global scientific collaboration, case study development for a flipped analytical chemistry classroom, and laboratory curriculum development in the area of instrument design and fabrication by additive manufacturing for the provision of low-cost analytical tools to public schools for enhanced education.To provide enhanced drug screening through an academic - industrial partnership, this research project employs the focusing effects characteristic of transient isotachophoresis to provide enhanced sensitivity and resolution in free solution, capillary-based electroseparations. Advances include on-column labeling with novel, functionalized squarylium dye design, and improved analyte discrimination based on multiple discriminant analysis. These components facilitate selective determination of drug and drug metabolites (such as synthetic cathinones and glucuronide metabolites) in complex sample matrices, as required by confirmation testing in the medication monitoring industry. Furthermore, the ability to rapidly discover functional ligands in the form of DNA aptamers, capable of screening for drug targets, represents an alternative to the ubiquitous use of enzyme immunoassay screening procedures. This research employs carbon dots to both fluorescently tag and modify the mobility of unbound DNA library members, thus enabling expedited DNA aptamer discovery for specific targets.