Issue 41, 2014 - East China University of Science and Technology has made progress in the basic research field of fluorescent molecular probes

The development of highly sensitive and specific molecular probes that can identify cancer cells containing or special secretory markers will facilitate early diagnosis
of cancer.
Based on this research background, East China University of Science and Technology, as the chief leader of the "basic research on molecular probe recognition of tumor-specific serum markers" "973" project has recently made a series of important scientific research progress, the results of which provide a research basis for the subsequent development of fluorescent molecular probes that can identify tumor abnormalities-related molecules, and the fluorescent labeling of cancer cell surface membrane receptor markers and internals has been published in the journal Scientific Reports of Nature Publishing Group
。
Based on the previous research basis of glyco-receptor protein recognition at the molecular level and the cellular level, researchers synthesized a structurally stable and highly water-soluble ammonia peptide skeleton in view of the problem that the traditional amide linkage bond is easily enzymatically hydrolyzed and has poor water solubility, and applied "click chemistry" to develop polyvalent glycopeptide mimics based on such new skeletons, and further used sugar rhodamine dye probes to achieve fluorescent labeling of antagonism between such glycopeptides and receptor proteins.
It provides a new research method
for live-cell level detection of membrane receptor and ligand recognition.

In addition, the researchers innovatively found that "click chemistry" modification at different modification sites of a natural sugar skeleton can realize the fluorescent "switch/off" regulation of silver ions, and the application of "off" probes to realize the fluorescent labeling of silver ions internalized in cancer cells, so as to further use the cellular targeting of sugar, and selectively realize the fluorescent labeling of mercury ions internalized in liver cancer cells for the first time in cancer cells of different tissue sources.
It provides a research basis
for the subsequent development of fluorescent molecular probes that can identify molecules associated with tumor abnormalities.

The above systematic scientific research work was completed by Associate Researcher He Xiaopeng of the School of Chemistry and Professor Li Jia of the National New Drug Screening Center of the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the research work was strongly coordinated
by Professor Long Yitao of East China University of Science and Technology.
At present, through close collaboration in the interdisciplinary fields of chemistry, materials science, biology and medicine, the research team has achieved a series of innovative results, which have been recognized
by experts in related fields at home and abroad, including Academician Ten Feizi of the Royal College of Medicine and Dr.
Rob Field, Chairman of the Carbohydrate Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry.