 |
Gretchen's Project Page - RISE summer 2004 |
 |
Intern: Gretchen Keller, UCSB
Mentor: Janice Hong
Faculty Supervisor: Guillermo Bazan
Department: Chemistry |
MULTICOLOR BIOSENSORS BASED ON CONJUGATED COPOLYMERS
The Bazan group has developed a multicolor biosensor for the detection of
sequence-specific oligomeric DNA. The polymer polyfluorene phenylene
cobenzothiadiazole (PFPB) is primarily blue-emitting, but contains a lower
energy green-emitting site. Energy transfer to the green occurs only with
complexation to another polyelectrolyte and can thus be used to detect the
presence of DNA. If DNA labeled with a red-emitting dye is introduced and is
complimentary to the unlabeled strand then further energy transfer occurs and
red emission is observed. The following research was conducted in an effort to
evaluate the utility of this type of sensor. Primary interest lies in the
dependence of energy transfer efficiency on factors including DNA length,
pH of solution, and the presence or absence of non-specific electrolytes and
polyelectrolytes.
Return to the RISE 2004 project list
