Selective Optical Sensors for
Immunodiagnostic and Environmental
Analysis

Investigators   

Donald Bobbitt and Ken Turnbull--Chemistry and Biochemistry                               


Introduction

An appealing application of the sensing technology is in the field of genetic diagnostics for inherited diseases as well as genome mapping and experimentation in molecular biology. For genetic diagnostics, the recognition phase generally consists of either short oligonucleotides for sequence-specific hybridization to the target DNA or RNA proteins, which recognize specific sequences of DNA,RNA or small aromatic molecules for intercalation with nucleic acids.

The use of appropriately derivatized sensors for environmental sensing will also be investigated. The recent surge of interest in host-guest chemistry has led to the discovery of a variety of macromolecules that show high degrees of selectivity for particular guests. Many host macro-cycles, such as crown ethers, cryptands and their modified derivatives can be synthesized on a sensor surface.

Similarly, derivatization of the sensor surface with a variety of known charged and uncharged cyclophane derivatives will be investigated for
sensors with binding selectivities for organic species and aromatic species, including those of biological significance such as neurotransmitters.

Research Objective

The goal of this research is to develop a sensor for genetic diagnostics and to develop the synthetic methodology for derivatization of sensor surfaces with a variety of molecules for expanded analyte detection into other areas of interest.