Intracellular Engineering

Frederick R. Haselton, Ph.D.

Description of Research Program

Current Projects

Recent Publications

Description of Research Program:

The Intracellular Engineering laboratories seek to develop technologies for diagnostic and research applications at the nano and molecular level using both in vitro and in vivo systems. As indicated by the current examples listed below, our laboratory has a strong collaborative and experimental focus.

Currently Funded Projects Include:

1. "Lagrangian detection of biomolecular interactions" - Patterns of gene expression and protein profiles are currently revolutionizing the understanding of biology and disease and are likely to become diagnostic and prognostic tools. Once these patterns are known, methods to detect them will be required.  We have designed a platform that rapidly matches the characteristics of an unknown sample with established expression or protein profiles.  The approach is characterized by adaptive feedback to increase sensitivity and reliability. 
2. "Multi-spectral quantum dot-based retinal imaging of molecular expression in vivo" – The unique optical properties of quantum dots offer the potential for new optical methods to study molecular events.  This project seeks to develop a platform for the real-time, in vivo analysis of multiple cellular and molecular events in vivo using quantum dot nanocrystals and retinal fluorescence microscopy.
3. "Mapping Brain Connections with Quantum Dots" – This quantum dot project (with Jon Kaas in Psychology) has the potential of greatly altering the ways brain connections are studied, with the advantage of greatly increasing the amount and reliability of information gained by studying individual brains.
4. "The role of Bves in the human cornea" – In this project (with Min Chang in Ophthalmology) our long term objectives are to understand the role of the junction protein Bves, and more broadly, the molecular basis of corneal regeneration both in homeostasis and wound repair.  Our central hypothesis is that Bves is important in corneal epithelial cellular migration and proliferation mediated through regulation of adhesion junctions.
5. "Virus detection using DNA logic tags" - The goal of this project (with David Wright in Chemistry) is to develop and evaluate a new paradigm in specific yet sensitive virus detection.  This approach is based on a combination of procedures, including nanoparticle surface chemistry, tag-specific DNA sequences, and DNA ligation logical AND operators.

Recent Publications:

Monroe, W.T., McQuain, M.M., Chang, M.S., Alexander, J.S. and Haselton, F.R.  Induction of caged plasmid expression with light. Journal of Biological Chemistry 274(30):20895-20900, 1999.

P.K. Russ, G.M. Gaylord, F.R. Haselton, Retinal vascular permeability determined by dual tracer fluorescence angiography, Annals Biomedical Engineering, 29: 638-647, 2001.

McQuain, M.K., Peek, J., Seale, K., Levy, S., and Haselton, F.R.  Effects of relative humidity and buffer additives on the contact printing of microarrays by quill pins.  Anal. Biochem., 320, 281-291, 2003.

Monroe, W.T. and Haselton, F.R.  Molecular beacon optimization algorithm.  BioTechniques, 34, 68-73, 2003.

McQuain, M.K., Seale, K., Peek, J., Fisher, T.S., Levy, S., Stremler, M., and Haselton, F.R.  Chaotic mixer improves microarray hybridization.  Anal. Biochem., 325(2): 215-226, 2004.

Stremler, M.A., Haselton, F.R., and Aref, H.  Designing for chaos: Applications of chaotic advection at the microscale.  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 362: 1019-1036, 2004.

Balasubramanian, B. Bhuva, R. Mernaugh, and F.R. Haselton, Si-based sensor for virus detection, IEEE Sensor Journal 5(3): 340-344, 2005.

Gregory P. Stone, Ray Mernaugh, Frederick R. Haselton, Virus Detection Using Filament-Coupled Antibodies, Biotechnology & Bioengineering 91(6): 699-706, 2005.

Christopher J. Pino, Frederick R. Haselton, Min S. Chang, Epithelial seeding of damaged corneas by transfer from PDMS contact lenses, Cell Transplantation 14: 565-571, 2005.

Bilal Ghosn, F.R. Haselton, Gee, K. and T.D. Monroe, Light-based Control of DNA Hybridization with Photocleavable Adducts, Photochemistry & Photobiology 81(4): 953-9, 2005.

Monroe, T.D. and Haselton, F.R. Gene expression targeting using caged DNA, in Dynamic studies in Biology: Phototriggers, photoswitches and caged compounds, ed. Goeldner & Givens, Wiley-VCH (2005).

Gregory P. Stone, J. Denise Wetzel, Patricia K. Russ, Terence S. Dermody, and Frederick R. Haselton, Autonomous Reovirus Strain Classification Using Filament-Coupled Antibodies, Annals of Biomedical Engineering 34(11): 1778-85, 2006.