Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Formation, Characterization, And Optimization Of Antibody-Gold Nanoparticle Conjugates, Seth L. Filbrun

Theses and Dissertations

Protein modified gold nanoparticle based immunoassays are the basis of many novel detection techniques. There are many groups working on novel immunoassays but there is still much to understand about how many proteins are attached onto each nanoparticle and much to improve on immobilization methods. This thesis work is devoted to improving techniques for the quantification of protein immobilized on the gold nanoparticle and development of a novel approach to immobilize protein independent of pH.

The ability to evaluate antibody immobilization onto gold nanoparticles is critical for assessing coupling chemistry and optimizing the sensitivity of nanoparticle-enabled biosensors. Herein, we developed …

Fluorescence Polarization Measurements To Probe Alignment Of A Bithiophene Dye In One-Dimensional Channels Of Self-Assembled Phenylethynylene Bis-Urea Macrocycle Crystals, Preecha Kittikhunnatham

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the use of polarized fluorescence microscopy to directly probe guest molecule orientation in bis-urea macrocycle crystals. These macrocycles assemble to afford one-dimensional (1D) microchannels ∼9 Å in diameter that have previously been shown to exhibit normal Fickian diffusion and induce selective reactivity among the confined guest molecules. In the present work, we take advantage of the quasi-1D morphology of fiber-like microcrystals with the extended dimension corresponding to the channel axis to measure excitation and emission polarization values for a bithiophene guest. Guest fluorescence is shown to be polarized along the fiber axis with emission polarization values up …