NSF Award
0119468
0119468<br/>Simon<br/>The objective of the proposed research is to develop a method of optically imaging proteins. This research will adapt newly developed methods for peptide/protein ligation for labeling various proteins and imaging them via improved fluorescence or other molecular imaging probes. The ability to study proteins in situ has come from the introduction of the green Fluorescent protein (GFP). The goal of this research is to generate reporters that share the power of GFP, but without its limitations. The specific goals of this research are to generate reporters that: (1) can be genetically engineered into proteins, (2) are significantly smaller than GFP, (3) have a narrower emission spectra than GFP, (4) emit further in the red range or have a larger Stokes shift than GFP, (5) are more photostable than GFP, (6) can be used to simultaneously label and distinguish different proteins in living cells, and (7) can be used to track proteins or cells as they move throughout an animal's body.
