This project is funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program of the Chemistry Division in the National Science Foundation. Professor Ryan White and his team at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) are developing a new chemical imaging platform that uses the same molecular machinery that a biological cell uses to map and identify the location of specific molecules with single molecule sensitivity. This project has relevance to the Understanding the Brain initiative. The study relies on incorporating proteins that cross cell membranes into lipid bilayers to look at the movement of small molecules through a membrane. The use of a scanning ion conductance microscope offers the advantage of providing chemical information about processes occurring at the cell membrane. The long-term aim of this work is to map out the concentration of specific molecules in the cellular environment to better understand the molecular basis of cellular communication. The broader impacts of this work include providing a strong interdisciplinary background in chemistry, bioanalysis, and biochemistry to students engaged in the research. Underrepresented groups are included in several programs at UMBC that promote science. The scientific broader impact is the introduction of a new imaging capability to scanning ion conductance microscopy. In the long term, the protein channel-based method may be applied towards studies of a broad range of biological systems.
The objective of this proposal is the development a bio-inspired, protein channel-based scanning ion conductance microscope (SICM) for simultaneous surface imaging and specific molecule concentration mapping. The method relies on incorporating naturally-occurring trans-membrane protein channels as reproducible nanopores (~1 nm diameter) with activities that are gated by specific molecules of interest. Professor White and his team are quantitatively determining what affects the resolution of the bio-inspired SICM measurement including imaging pipette dimensions and the number of embedded protein channels. The coupling of the powerful imaging capabilities of scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) with the specific and sensitive single molecule detection abilities of protein channel measurements provides quantification of the imaging resolution and specific molecule detection abilities. The research may provide new knowledge to the field of scanning probe microscopy and may introduce a new chemical imaging abilities for specific molecules not accessible with current methodologies.
