Photochemical Strategies with Supramolecular Assistance to Monitor Cellular Dynamics in Living Organism

该项目旨在设计和制备能够在生物体中运输到目标位置的分子，并且只有在激活光束的刺激下才能发光。随后对发射光的检测提供了在感兴趣的样品中定位活化分子的位置并实时跟踪其运动的机会。这些光发射器最终可以成为生物学研究的分析工具，例如在生物体生长过程中跟踪移动细胞，并为生物体发育提供有价值的见解。这些化学的基础研究可能对生物学和医学有影响。此外，这些活动还教授参与的本科生和研究生如何从商业试剂中制备分子，表征它们的结构并研究它们与光的相互作用。此外，它们有助于加强迈阿密大学首席研究员的实验室与迈阿密-戴德学院的一名教员之间现有的教育合作。这项合作让高中生和本科生都有机会参与研究。考虑到这两所大学的少数族裔入学率都超过50%，这些培训机会可能会对代表性不足的群体成员产生重大的教育影响。本研究的目标是在电磁波谱的深红色和近红外区域开发具有光激活荧光的生物相容性探针。具体来说，该项目涉及合成含有荧光硼二吡咯甲烷发色团和光切换恶嗪发色团的分子，以及它们的光化学/光物理特性并结合在聚合物纳米颗粒中。在适当的激活波长照射下，这些化合物的恶嗪杂环的光诱导和不可逆打开有望延长相邻的硼二吡咯甲烷发色团的电子共轭。这种结构转变的目的是使后一组分的主要吸收带发生色移，并允许其在合适的波长上选择性地激发伴随荧光。在这些操作原理的基础上，光化学和发光产物的易位，在一个给定的感兴趣的样品，然后可以实时探测与荧光图像的顺序采集。这些光发射器最终可以成为生物学研究的分析工具，例如在生物体生长过程中跟踪移动细胞，并为生物体发育提供有价值的见解。

This project aims at the design and preparation of molecules that can be transported to target locations in organisms and emit light only after stimulation with an activating optical beam. Subsequent detection of the emitted light offers the opportunity to locate the position of the activated molecules in a sample of interest and follow their movements in real time. These light emitters can ultimately become analytical tools for biological studies, such as the tracking of moving cells during the growth of the organism, and contribute valuable insights on organismal development. These fundamental studies in chemistry may have implications in biology and medicine. Additionally, the activities teach the participating undergraduate and graduate students how to prepare molecules from commercial reagents, characterize their structures and investigate their interactions with light. Furthermore, they contribute to strengthening an existing educational collaboration between the laboratory of the principal investigator at the University of Miami and a faculty member of Miami-Dade College. This collaboration exposes high-school and undergraduate students to research. Considering that both institutions have minority enrollments in excess of 50%, these training opportunities may have a significant educational impact on members of underrepresented groups.The goal of this research is the development of biocompatible probes with photoactivatable fluorescence in the deep-red and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Specifically, this project involves the synthesis of molecules incorporating a fluorescent borondipyrromethene chromophore and a photoswitchable oxazine auxochrome, together with their photochemical/photophysical characterization and incorporation within polymer nanoparticles. Upon illumination at an appropriate activation wavelength, the photoinduced and irreversible opening of the oxazine heterocycle of these compounds is expected to extend the electronic conjugation of the adjacent borondipyrromethene chromophore. This structural transformation is designed to bathochromically shift the main absorption band of the latter component and allow its selective excitation at a suitable wavelength with concomitant fluorescence. On the basis of these operating principles, the translocation of the photochemical and emissive product, across a given sample of interest, can then be probed in real time with the sequential acquisition of fluorescence images. These light emitters can ultimately become analytical tools for biological studies, such as the tracking of moving cells during the growth of the organism, and contribute valuable insights on organismal development.