News & Events / BME Seminar Series / Past Seminar Speakers / 2017-18Andrew Smith, PhD
BME Seminar Series Winter 2018
Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 4-5 pm
Tech L361
Host: Professor Milan Mrksich
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Counting Molecules in Cells and Tissues using Next-Generation Quantum Dots and Quantitative Fluroescene Imaging
The primary goal of the Smith Lab at the University of Illinois is to develop assays for proteins and nucleic acids that provide absolute molecular counts and single-molecule detection limits. We are developing a suite of these tools based on quantum dots and quantitative fluorescence imaging. Quantum dots are light-emitting nanocrystals that have been widely applied as molecular labels and have transformed single-molecule imaging in cells due to their intense, stable signals. However, early versions of these materials suffered from uncontrollable emission brightness and steric hindrance that limited the accuracy of molecular labelling. Recent advances in photophysical and colloidal engineering strategies have now largely resolved these problems to improve their utility for biomedical molecular imaging. Recently our lab developed (1) materials to precisely control light emission flux independently from wavelength, (2) new polymers to shrink the hydrodynamic size to 7 nanometers while maintaining year-long stability, (3) attachment chemistries for precise labelling of nucleic acids and proteins, and (4) image analysis tools to quantify absolute molecular stoichiometries. We are using these particles to observe accurate single molecule processes in the neuronal synapse, to count nucleic acids in single cells, to quantify state populations of intracellular nanomaterials, and to quantitatively analyze signal transduction processes at the single-cell level. This talk will describe our ongoing engineering strategies to improve these materials and imaging methodologies, and our new applications in molecular imaging of cells, tissues, and clinical biospecimens.
Learn more about Professor Andrew Smith and their research here.