We report the development of a rhodamine chromene-based fluorescence probe to monitor the intracellular Cu(2+) level in living cells. The new fluorescent probe exhibits a fluorescence response towards Cu(2+) under physiological conditions with high sensitivity and selectivity, and facilitates the naked-eye detection of Cu(2+). The fluorescence intensity was significantly increased by about 40-f...

The remarkable efforts that are made on molecular imaging technologies demonstrate its potential importance and range of applications. The generation of disease-specific animal models, and the developments of target-specific probes and genetically encoded reporters are another important component. Continued improvements in the instrumentation, the identification of novel targets and genes, and ...

Due to their sensitivity and versatility, the use of fluorescence techniques in membrane biophysics is widespread. Because membrane lipids are non-fluorescent, extrinsic membrane probes are widely used. However, the behaviour of these probes when inserted in the bilayer is often poorly understood, and it can be hard to distinguish between legitimate membrane properties and perturbation resultin...

This study reports the hybridization kinetics of double-stranded DNA probes for rapid molecular analysis. Molecular binding schemes based on double-stranded DNA probes have been developed for quantitative detection of various biomolecules, such as nucleic acids and DNA binding proteins recently. The thermodynamic competition between the target and the competitor in binding to the probe provides...

Detection of molecular abnormalities could provide an essential tool for the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and defining patients at risk for early relapse. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) targeting 17 gene loci was applied to determine the frequency of molecular alteration in NSCLC probes and adjacent tumour-free bronchial epithelium. FISH was performed on fresh froz...

BACKGROUND The development of molecular probes capable of recognizing virus-infected cells is essential to meet the serious clinical, therapeutic, and national-security challenges confronting virology today. We report the development of DNA aptamers as probes for the selective targeting of virus-infected living cells. METHODS To create aptamer probes capable of recognizing virus-infected cell...

A readily accessible new class of near infrared (NIR) molecular probes has been synthesized and evaluated. Specific fluorophores in this unique xanthene based regioisomeric seminaphthofluorone dye series exhibit a combination of desirable characteristics including (i) low molecular weight (339 amu), (ii) aqueous solubility, and (iii) dual excitation and emission from their fluorescent neutral a...

Metabolism of molecular oxygen in the human body inevitably produces reactive oxygen species (ROS). Among the family of ROS, those exhibiting very high reactivities, including _OH, _OOH, ONOO , HOCl, HOBr, and O2, remain relatively underexplored. While emerging evidence suggests that these ROS are critically involved in physiological function as well as the genesis and development of diseases, ...

Raman microspectroscopy provides for high-resolution non-invasive molecular analysis of biological samples and has a breakthrough potential for dissection of cellular molecular composition at a single organelle level. However, the potential of Raman microspectroscopy can be fully realized only when novel types of molecular probes distinguishable in the Raman spectroscopy modality are developed ...