Collaborative Research: Single-Molecule Electrofluorochromic Sensing

在化学系化学测量和成像项目的支持下，以及来自刺激竞争性研究的既定项目的部分共同资助下，堪萨斯州立大学的Takashi Ito教授和他的团队与印第安纳大学布卢明顿分校的Amar Flood教授和他的团队合作，旨在创造开发用于医学诊断和基础生化研究的新测量工具所需的基础知识。本合作项目旨在开发用于氧化还原过程高灵敏度检测的新型荧光分子，研究用于电极反应动力学定量的单分子测量技术，并建立一种高灵敏度和精确的生物传感方法。在单分子水平上对电极反应过程的深入理解有可能为提高电化学生物传感器和光电器件的性能提供有价值的信息。在这些研究过程中，研究课题将通过符合美国化学学会认证要求的新实验室实验融入教育活动中。扩大STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）学科参与的努力包括针对主要是本科院校的学生和教授的多学科研究研讨会。这个合作项目寻求开发高度敏感和精确的多路生物传感器所需的基本见解。具体来说，该团队寻求设计和合成在氧化/还原时表现出可逆的ON-OFF开关的小荧光分子（电开关荧光团），适合共价偶联。在样品应用中，电位调制将用于拴在DNA探针上的单个电可切换荧光团的电极反应动力学的荧光定量，目的是提高对单分子电极反应动力学与基于折叠的DNA传感器性能之间关系的理解。最终目标是无需校准的单分子DNA传感，如果成功，将构成一项重大成就，并具有广泛的科学影响，远远超出这些研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry and partial co-funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, Professor Takashi Ito and his group at Kansas State University aims to create fundamental knowledge required to develop new measurement tools for medical diagnostics and fundamental biochemical studies, in collaboration with Professor Amar Flood and his group at Indiana University, Bloomington. This collaborative project aims to develop novel fluorescent molecules for highly sensitive detection of oxidation-reduction processes, to examine single molecule measurement techniques for quantification of electrode reaction kinetics, and to establish a highly sensitive and precise biosensing method. In depth understanding of electrode reaction processes at the single molecule level has the potential to provide valuable information to facilitate improving the performance of electrochemical biosensors and opto-electronic devices. In the course of these studies, research topics will be integrated into educational activities via new lab experiments that meet American Chemical Society accreditation requirements for BS degrees. Efforts to broaden participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines include a multidisciplinary research symposium targeting students and professors at primarily undergraduate institutions.This collaborative project seeks fundamental insights needed to develop highly sensitive and precise multiplexed biosensors. Specifically, the team seeks to design and synthesize small fluorescent molecules that exhibit reversible ON-OFF switching upon oxidation/reduction (electroswitchable fluorophores) and are suitable for covalent conjugation. In sample applications, potential modulation will be used for fluorescence quantification of the electrode reaction kinetics of single electroswitchable fluorophores tethered to DNA probes, with an aim of improved understanding of the relationship between the single-molecule electrode reaction kinetics and the performance of folding-based DNA sensors. An ultimate aim is calibration-free single-molecule DNA sensing which, if successful, would constitute a significant achievement and have broad scientific impact well beyond these studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.