Minority Predoctoral Fellowship Program

描述（由申请人提供）：快速诊断和持续监测疾病状态目前受到需要访问主要临床化学实验室的限制。Asher小组开发的聚合晶体胶体阵列（PCCA）有可能用作各种临床重要分析物的光学检测器。PCCA是由于其胶体颗粒的高度有序结构而布拉格吸收可见光的水凝胶。水凝胶的膨胀导致衍射光的红移。通过用酶和小分子配体官能化水凝胶的聚合物主链，可以响应于各种临床相关分析物的存在而诱导溶胀。这种PCCA传感基序将被开发用于检测心肌缺血的分子标志物。这些传感器将针对临床化学实验室不可用或不方便的情况下的床旁应用进行优化。该研究将涉及新型聚合物材料的合成和表征，以及它们作为临床传感器的实用性的验证。临床应用的PCCA的拟议开发将联合收割机基础材料研究和优化研究与体外试验相结合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Rapid diagnosis and continuous monitoring of disease states is currently limited by the need to access a major clinical chemistry laboratory. Polymerized Crystalline Colloidal Arrays (PCCAs) developed in the Asher group have the potential to serve as optical detectors of a wide variety of clinically important analytes. PCCAs are hydrogels that Bragg diffract visible light due to the highly ordered structure of their colloidal particles. Swelling of the hydrogel causes a redshift of the diffracted light. By functionalizing the polymer backbone of the hydrogel with enzymes and small molecule ligands, swelling can be induced in response to the presence of a variety of clinically relevant analytes. This PCCA sensing motif will be developed to detect molecular markers of cardiac ischemia. These sensors will be optimized for point of care applications for situations in which a clinical chemistry lab is not available or expedient. The research will involve the synthesis and characterization of novel polymeric materials, as well as validation of their utility as clinical sensors. The proposed development of PCCAs for clinical applications will combine fundamental materials studies and optimization studies with in vitro trials.