Minority Predoctoral Fellowship Program

快速诊断和持续监测疾病状态目前受到以下需要的限制： 进入主要的临床化学实验室。年开发的聚合结晶胶体阵列（PCCA） Asher小组有可能作为各种临床重要的光学探测器， 分析物。PCCA是由于其高度有序的结构而布拉格吸收可见光的水凝胶。 胶体颗粒水凝胶的膨胀导致衍射光的红移。通过将 当水凝胶的聚合物主链与酶和小分子配体结合时，可以在其中诱导溶胀。 对多种临床相关分析物的存在的响应。该PCCA感测基序将是 用来检测心肌缺血的分子标记这些传感器将进行优化， 护理应用程序的情况下，临床化学实验室是不可用的或权宜之计。研究 将涉及新型聚合物材料的合成和表征，以及它们的有效性。 作为临床传感器。临床应用PCCA的拟定开发将联合收割机 基础材料研究和优化研究与体外试验。

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.