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UO Home Dept Index Search for: Home About People Full Members Associate Members Staff Research News MSI Researcher Collaborative Projects Map Research Themes Biology Interface Enhanced Technology Medical and Health Novel Materials Sustainability Explore MSI In-Depth Shannon Boettcher Lab Highlights David Johnson Lab Highlights Darren Johnson Lab Highlights Dean Livelybrooks Highlights Raghu Parthasarathy Highlights Michael Pluth Highlights Richard Taylor Highlights MSI Faculty Publications Education Undergraduate Graduate Outreach and STEM Education Links Calendar MSI Conference Room Calendar UO Joint Sciences Seminar Seminar Archives Contact View Article Emerging applications of carbon nanohoops This review from the Jasti group highlights a multitude of recent studies that exploit unique carbon nanohoop properties towards applications ranging from biological imaging to organic electronics. View Article Intestinal mechanics amplify weak antibiotics To explore how sublethal levels of antibiotics can affect gut microbes, the Parthasarathy and Guillemin Labs applied 3D microscopy to gut bacteria in live zebrafish. Antibiotic-induced changes in the spatial aggregation of bacteria, coupled to the mechanical activity of the intestine, led to large drops in microbial populations. The findings reveal a mechanism by which antibiotic environmental contamination can have much stronger effects than would be predicted by test-tube experiments. View Article First example of reversible binding of reactive biomolecule hydroselenide A collaboration of the Johnson, Haley, and Pluth labs resulted in the first report of the reversible binding and detection of the highly reactive hydroselenide (HSe–) anion. The ability to sense HSe- is important because all forms of dietary selenium, an essential nutrient, are believed to be transformed into HSe- before further metabolism. The high reactivity of HSe-, however, makes it difficult to directly detect in biological systems. View Article Turn-On Fluorescence of Small, Highly Strained Carbon Nanohoops The optical properties of carbon nanohoops were precisely manipulated to change their photophysical properties, resulting in a new class of structures. Smaller nanohoops, which are more easily accessed, are now fluorescent and brighter. This is critical for exploiting this class of structures as new biological fluorophores, supramolecular sensors and novel optoelectronic materials. View Article Disentangling signals in mass spectra of complex mixtures This article describes the Prell Group's use of image and sound processing tools to simplify the interpretation of mass spectra for large molecules, including proteins and polymers. In "native" mass spectrometry, which aims to preserve and characterize high-order structure of biomolecules as they are transferred into the gas phase, signal due to attachment of sodium and other ions to the biomolecules can make the mass spectrum extremely difficult to interpret. The Prell Group's method circumvents this problem by treating the biomolecule signal like a singer performing in a noisy room, first detecting then filtering the signal out from the noisy background. View Article Optimizing mass spectrometry for membrane protein complexes The Prell Group at UO and Marty Group at the University of Arizona (lead authors) demonstrate that chemical additives added to aqueous buffers containing native-like membrane proteins embedded in lipoprotein "Nanodisc" membrane mimics can modulate the fate of these intricate complexes when transferred into a mass spectrometer. By choosing the right combination of chemical additive and instrumental settings, a remarkably flexible variety of target ions can be produce that enable researchers to study membrane protein complex stoichiometry, size and shape, and lipid binding. View Article Imaging provides insights into the physical characteristics and spatial distributions of gut bacteria Despite the importance of the gut microbiome to health and disease, little is known about these intestinal ecosystems are organized in time and space. Using three-dimensional microscopy of larval zebrafish, researchers in the Parthasarathy Lab were able to map the spatial distributions of several gut species, as well as the behaviors of individual bacteria. Surprisingly, they discovered a strong link between the two; the tendency of bacteria to aggregate is a very strong predictor of their location in the gut. This suggests the existence of general biophysical rules that can make sense of the gut microbiome. View Article Conformationally flexible receptors bind disparate oxoanions with similar, high affinities The Johnson and Haley collaborative lab designed three differentially adorned pyridylethynyl bis-urea hosts to host disparate oxoanion luggage selectively. However, solvent effects outweigh the predicted binding trends of the anions, leading to equally high affinities across all nine receptor-anion pairs in less polar solvents. View Article A path-separated electron interferometer within a conventional scanning transmission electron microscope. From gravitational wave sensing, to fundamental quantum measurements, to imaging of transparent materials, interferometry has been used in as an investigative tool in many scientific fields. The McMorran Lab presents a path-separated electron interferometer that can potentially be applied to explore fundamental physics of nano-materials and as a phase contrast imaging technique. View Article Selective Anion Receptors for Hydrogen Sulfate The Haley and Johnson collaborative team prepared two hosts that selectively bind the anion hydrogen sulfate, a contaminant often found in agricultural and industrial waste streams. The team showed that the hosts can capture/transport this anion from an aqueous source under liquid-liquid extraction conditions. View Article Probing the role of cobalt oxy-hydroxide catalysts for solar water splitting The interfacial charge transfer that takes place between the semiconductor-catalyst interface for solar water splitting has long been poorly understood. New insights require unique experimental approaches, like the potential sensing electrochemical atomic force microscope developed by the Boettcher lab. Using this tool, Cobalt oxyhydroxide was shown to charge to potentials necessary to drive water oxidation. View Article Quick Excited State Dynamics Measurements using a Single-Shot Transient Absorption Spectrometer Transient absorption spectroscopy measures excited state dynamics, but is usually limited to static systems owing to long data collection times. In this paper, the Wong Lab presents a single-shot transient absorption spectrometer with a 45 ps pump-probe time range that lowers the data collection time to 8 s. This advance will enable the measurement of the excited state dynamics of systems that are not at structural equilibrium. An Improved Method for H2S Detection - Pluth Lab in JACS Compounds that become fluorescent when hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is detected in the body have become important for studying the biological significance of this rotten egg-smelling gas. Unfortunately, these compounds also use up the H2S that it detects, which may have a profound impact on the physiological processes that utilize this important molecule. Recently, the Pluth Lab has developed an innovative method for H2S detection that replenishes H2S, providing the first example of analyte replacement in a reaction-based fluorescent probe. View Article View Article Modulating Paratropicity Strength in Diareno-fused Antiaromatics Understanding and controlling the electronic structure of molecules is crucial when designing and optimizing new organic materials. The findings of this study from the Haley lab can be used to predict the properties of, and thus rationally target, new diareno-fused antiaromatic molecules for use as organic semiconductors. View Article Prell Group introduces Collidoscope, a New Tool for Computi...