new agents for the visualization of biochemistry in live cells

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Proteins are amazing molecular machines that are essential for Life as we know it. After a century of protein research, we now have a very good understanding of how proteins are able to carry out their vast array of functions. However, our understanding is not deep enough to allow us to rationally design new protein structures with functions not found in Nature. Thus, when we want to use proteins as benign 'tools' to benefit mankind, we are limited to what Nature has provided us. Fortunately, Nature has been generous and protein 'tools' are now taken for granted in many aspects of modern life, including household products (e.g. laundry detergent), medical diagnostics (e.g. blood glucose sensors to control diabetes), and biotechnology (e.g. PCR).     It is in this last category that the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from jellyfish has found widespread utility. GFP has the unique (among proteins) ability to generate a visible wavelength fluorophore within its own 3-dimensional structure and thus can absorb blue light and reemit it as green light. In the past decade, this remarkable protein 'tool' has enabled many exciting advances in biological research because genetically inserting GFP into a living cell or tissue allows one to 'see' biological structures that would otherwise be undetectable.     My specific research interest is in expanding the 'toolkit' of proteins that are useful in basic biological research. For example, it is useful to have a wide selection of 'colors' of fluorescent proteins so that multiple biological structures can be 'visualized' simultaneously. We would also like to add a dynamic new dimension to fluorescent proteins and engineer them to be biosensors that change their fluorescence in response to specific biological events. Many of the potential applications of such biosensors lie in the realm of fundamental cell biology research. However, these technological advances will also be applicable to the areas of medical diagnostics, drug discovery, and advanced approaches for imaging and treatment of cancer.