Novel analytical approaches for biology and medicine

我的研究项目是发展生物学和医学的新分析方法。现代生物学和医学需要敏感和信息丰富的工具，用于（一）研究细胞过程的分子机制，（二）在分子水平上诊断疾病，以及（三）创造基于机制的新药。这些工具的开发及其在重要生物和医学问题上的应用是我们的重点。该小组在6个方向上工作：(i)亲和相互作用的动力学研究，（ii）适体开发，（iii）适体促进技术，（iv）单细胞化学分析，(v)毛细管微反应器小型化分析，以及（vi）智能候选药物的选择。我们已经在这些领域开发了许多高度可用的分析方法，包括动态毛细管电泳（KCE）、适体体促进生物标志物发现（AptaBiD）、适体体促进细胞蛋白分离（AptaPIC）、注射-混合-反应-分离-定量（IMReSQ）和非正交自由流动电泳。在过去的5年中，50多名HQP在进行这项创新研究时接受了培训。他们的研究成果发表在40多篇同行评议论文中，被引用900多次。我们之前的大部分研究都是原理验证项目，主要涉及体外实验。未来5年，我们将继续以好奇心为导向，在6个方向进行探索性研究。我们还将开始将我们的分析方法转移到涉及细胞、组织和实验动物的体内阶段。特别是，我们将把我们的研究项目扩展到一个新的方向——适体作为体内病变细胞成像探针的研究。我们的NSERC发现研究将保持高度跨学科，从化学到生物学，从物理到数学。8名研究生将在3个研究生专业（化学、生物和物理）和2个pdf进行培训。我们预计，我们的研究成果将有助于为癌症和神经退行性疾病等复杂疾病创造新的快速、灵敏的诊断方法和有效的治疗方法。

My research program is concerned with the development of novel analytical approaches for biology and medicine. Modern biology and medicine require sensitive and informative tools for (i) studies of molecular mechanisms of cellular processes, (ii) diagnosis of diseases at the molecular level, and (iii) creating new mechanisms-based drugs. The development of such tools and their application to important biological and medical problems are our focus. The group works in 6 directions: (i) kinetic studies of affinity interactions, (ii) aptamer development, (iii) aptamer-facilitated technologies, (iv) chemical analyses of single cells, (v) miniaturized analyses in capillary microreactors, and (vi) selection of smart drug candidates. We have already developed a number of highly enabling analytical approaches in these areas, including Kinetic Capillary Electrophoresis (KCE), Aptamer-facilitated Biomarker Discovery (AptaBiD), Aptamer-facilitated Protein Isolation from Cells (AptaPIC), Inject-Mix-React-Separate-and-Quantitate" (IMReSQ), and Non-orthogonal Free-Flow Electrophoresis. Over the last 5 years, more than 50 HQP were trained while conducting this innovative research. The results of their work were published in 40+ peer reviewed papers, cited over 900 times. The majority of our previous research dealt with proof-of-principle projects, which involved mainly in-vitro experimentation. In the next 5 years, we will continue curiosity-driven exploratory research in the 6 directions. We will also start transferring our analytical approaches to their in-vivo stage involving cells, tissues, and laboratory animals. In particular, we will extend our research program into a new direction - the study of aptamers as probes for imaging diseased cells in the body. Our NSERC Discovery research will remain highly interdisciplinary, stretching from chemistry to biology and from physics to mathematics. Eights graduate students in 3 graduate programs (Chemistry, Biology, and Physics) and 2 PDFs will be trained. We anticipate that the results of our research will facilitate the creation of new rapid and sensitive diagnostics and effective treatments for complex diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.