Fluorescent Probes for Multiplexed Intracellular Imaging

The focus of our center is to design, prepare, and investigate novel fluorescent probes, termed “through-bond energy transfer cassettes”, for intracellular imaging. At this stage, it involves chemical syntheses of the probes (Burgess), conjugation to proteins involved in a signaling cascade for nuclear localization, and observation in cells, both under conventional conditions (Schroeder) and on a single-molecule level (Hochstrasser). Throughout, proteins labeled with the cassettes are transported into the cells using the carrier peptide known as Pep-1 or ChariotTM.