In addition to its annual lectures, ChBE hosts a weekly seminar throughout the year with invited lecturers who are prominent in their fields. Unless otherwise noted, all seminars are held on Wednesdays in the Molecular Science and Engineering Building ("M" Building) in G011 (Cherry Logan Emerson Lecture Theater) at 4 p.m. Refreshments are served at 3:30 p.m. in the Emerson-Lewis Reception Salon. NOTE: This seminar is being held in the Petit Biotechnology Building (IBB), Suddath Room 1128.

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"Optical Sensing of Biological Activity, One Molecule at a Time"

Markita del Carpio Landry, Postdoctoral Fellow, Chemical Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract:
Nanomaterials have distinct optical, chemical, and mechanical properties that make them useful for biomedical applications including the development of highly sensitive and specific sensors of biological activity. For instance, Innovative functionalization of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) with polymers can provide SWNT with novel functions for a variety of applications. Our recent work has employed noncovalent SWNT functionalization to produce several optical sensors for small molecules such as hormone estradiol, and essential vitamin B2. Further development of these optical sensors is promising for areas in need of sensors with high spatial and temporal resolution, such as label-free detection of proteins within a cell, point-of-care diagnostic tools, and nanoscale therapeutics. The immediate utility of our optical sensors is demonstrated by monitoring vitamin uptake into a living cell for over an hour. We also successfully utilize this platform to produce optical sensors for neurotransmitter detection and visualize this process of molecular recognition on the single-molecule scale. We further show the utility of SWNT-polymer conjugates in the scope of “plant nanobionics”: the detection of molecular pollutants inside living plants with a dual-wavelength ratiometric signal. Future work will focus on the real-time detection of protein expression, microbial infections, deep tissue imaging, and kinetics of protein misfolding.