Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a powerful label-free diagnostic tool to study biomolecular interactions. However, one of the drawbacks of SPR is the lack of controlled immobilization of ligands on the sensor surface. We have developed a modular platform for the fast, reagent-free and site-specific immobilization of azide-containing ligands by strain-promoted cycloaddition onto a cyclooctyne...

Self-assembled coordination cages are interesting as drug delivery systems. Therefore, the synthesis of new M2L4 (M = Pd, Pt) molecular cages, derived from highly fluorescent, rigid polyaromatic ligands is reported and the first Pt2L4 cage with a ligand consisting of three pyridine moieties is described. Photophysical properties were examined showing high quantum yields  of up to 48% for the m...

We present subclone sensitive cell phenotypic pharmacology of ligands at the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) stably expressed in HEK-293 cells. The parental cell line was transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged β2-AR. Four stable subclones were established and used to profile a library of sixty-nine AR ligands. Dynamic mass redistribution (DMR) profiling resulted in a pharmacolog...

The force balance between the extracellular microenvironment and the intracellular cytoskeleton controls the cell fate. We report a new (to our knowledge) mechanism of receptor force control in cell adhesion originating from friction between cell adhesion ligands and the supporting substrate. Adherent human endothelial cells have been studied experimentally on polymer substrates noncovalently c...

In this work we carried out a study covering conformational analysis, docking calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of six excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT)-fluorescent 2-(2’-hydroxyphenyl)-benzoxazoles, interacting with the Dickerson-Drew (d(CGCGAATTCGCG)2) dodecamer in B-DNA conformation. In the analysis of the molecular docking calculations, the derivatives ...

Sensitive methods to detect the earliest forms of colorectal cancers remain a challenge despite the development of serum and stool biomarkers. We reasoned that fluorescent affinity ligands derived from library screens can be developed to improve the detection and localization of early malignant lesions by endoscopy. We have developed an imaging agent for real-time endoscopic tumor detection in ...

Proteins have proven to be particularly attractive as effective ligands in the synthesis of nano- and subnanoscaled materials because of their multiple chelating and functional groups imparting unique functionalities. However, protein-directed fluorescent metal cluster synthesis is still a challenge but a promising area of research. Here, we report on the synthesis of new water-soluble, stable,...

Genetically encoded fluorescent protein tags have revolutionized proteome studies, whereas the lack of intrinsically fluorescent RNAs has hindered transcriptome exploration. Among several RNA-fluorophore complexes that potentially address this problem, RNA Mango has an exceptionally high affinity for its thiazole orange (TO)-derived fluorophore, TO1-Biotin (Kd ∼3 nM), and, in complex with relat...

The modular assembly of boronic acids with Schiff-base ligands enabled the construction of innovative fluorescent dyes [boronic acid salicylidenehydrazone (BASHY)] with suitable structural and photophysical properties for live cell bioimaging applications. This reaction enabled the straightforward synthesis (yields up to 99%) of structurally diverse and photostable dyes that exhibit a polarity-...

The ρ1 GABAC receptor is a ligand-gated chloride ion channel that shows promise as a therapeutic target for myopia, sleep disorders, memory and learning facilitation, and anxiety-related disorders. As such, there is a need for molecular probes to understand the role GABAC receptors play in physiological and pathological processes. To date, no labeled (either radioactive or fluorescent) GABAC se...