Professor Young-Tae Chang of New York University is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry CAREER Program to create combinatorial libraries of indicators for fluorescent staining of organelles and macro-molecular assemblies. The PI will synthesize a library of new fluorescent styryl dyes that will be investigated as fluorescent probes for biological localization in cell organelles, selective response to biological macromolecules, and for the development of an artificial "tongue" approach for low response small molecule analytes. The PI has already prepared a library of styryl dyes and developed a mathematical model for color prediction. This work will expand this library by increasing the diversity of structural elements around the styryl moiety. He will do this through the same solution phase chemistry already utilized, as well as develop new solid-state phase chemistry. The key idea behind this research work is the so-called Diversity Directed Sensor approach, which holds that the various structural elements located around the fluorescent styryl dye moiety will vary the selectivity of noncovalent interactions between the dyes and cell organelles or biological macromolecules. The resulting recognition elements will have applications in various sensing and chemical imaging applications.
The goal to chemically image a living cell is a grand challenge. Production of small molecules that cause varying parts of the cell to "light up" under a microscope hold one key to revealing the chemical makeup of the cell. This research will expand our capacity to produce these dye molecules. One application is the detection of amyloids in neural tissue, which are thought to cause diseases such as Alzheimer's. The PI engages high school, college and graduate students in this interdisciplinary research, enabling them to publish in the scientific literature.
