Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The Chemical Sciences play a central role in the Life Sciences. This is especially true in the current genomics and proteomics era which demand the development of new techniques, methods and materials to facilitate the study functional genomics, proteomics, and to be used in diagnostics or as chemotherapeutic agents. Our research focuses on the synthesis and application of modified nucleic acids and nucleic acid analogs. We are expanding the repertoire of available DNA mimics, improving on current designs and providing new methods and materials for applications in other areas of science such as biosensor development, hybridization and detection assays, and antisense/antigene chemistry. Our expertise lies in nucleobase modifications to endow DNA or peptide nucleic acid (PNA) with improved or new properties. For example, we have recently described intrinsically fluorescent, pairing competent nucleobases which can report on hybridization events. Such sequence selective fluorescence detection allows for the development of convenient methods for clinical, forensic or environmental diagnostics assays.