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David Benson

577-6914
dbenson@chem.wayne.edu

Area of Interest
Develop biosensors for small molecule analytes using designed metalloproteins fused to fluorescent nanoparticles. Our method engineers proteins that undergo conformational changes upon small molecule (ligand or analyte) binding to the protein. We have fused these proteins to semiconducting nanoparticles (CdSe) though adhesion domains, introduced using recombinant DNA technology. Additionally, a metal center is introduced to the protein that allows for energy or electron transfer to occur as a function of protein conformation. This conformationally regulated interaction of the metal center with the nanoparticle surface provides the analyte dependent response of these fluorescent protein-nanoparticle hybrid sensors. We are exploring the analyte diversity of these sensors (maltose, glucose, glutamine, glutamate, phosphate, and Pb2+ ions) and the extrapolation of these sensors to “field” deployable fiber optic dip probes.

Resources
Synthetic equipment for the manufacture of CdSe nanoparticles and engineered proteins. Laminar flow hood for silica surface derivatization chemistry.

Collaboration Interests:
Application to problem(s) we can apply our sensor technology to in human disease.Single molecule spectroscopy on the fluorescent blinking of these systems.Using these sensors as in vivo sensors.