Some of the most challenging questions in science today exist at the boundaries of many of the traditional fields of science. Optical probe technologies, especially energy transfer methods, is one of these cross-disciplinary fields that have impacted biophysics, chemistry, and the biomedical fields. It is well-established that the use of reonance energy transfer (RET) in biophysics can allow accurate measurements of distance in biopolymers, a visual response the binding events, and a method to probe environmental changes within cells. The use of RET and associated methods has expanded rapidly in the past decade and recently the discovery of nanometal surface energy transfer (NSET) methodologies have resulted in the pushing of the achievable RET distances. The presentation will explore quenching of fluorophores by metal nanoparticles, the mathematical description of the observation, and its applications to problems in bio-physics and bio-medicine. Through the use of the tools of spectroscopy and the ability to selectively synthesize, interrogate, and manipulate materials at the nanoscale the Strouse group asks questions that address a wide range of physical and biological questions. In the presentation we will explore the development of sustainable synthetic methods for nanoscale materials and the use of such materials in molecular ruler applications, cell biology, and biomedical efforts targeting traumatic brain injury. 

Nanometals and resonance energy transfer: Can we push the Ro value and does this improve its applicability?

246th National Meeting (2013)

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