Dr. Michael Walter Awarded NIH R15 Grant

“The goal of this NIH-funded project is the development of highly fluorescent thiazolothiazole (TTz) materials as molecular sensors for tracking cell membrane potentials. Tracking the changes in cell membrane potential offers the potential to gain a deep understanding of complex and rapidly changing cellular physiology. Fluorescent, small molecule voltage sensitive dyes (VSDs) have greatly impacted this field. In this project, we will explore the synthesis and exploration of a unique, asymmetric thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole dye system. TTz dyes are the next generation of imaging tools because they exhibit high photochemical stability, are easy to prepare/modify, show fast response times, good cell membrane localization, negligible cytotoxicity, and are highly sensitive to cellular membrane potential.” (1R15GM140392-01)