2021 Karle Symposium Recap

Krista, Claire, Gloria and Marina showing off the 2021 Karle symposium t-shirts!

The 2021 Karle Symposium was held virtually on July 30th. The Karle symposium is a yearly event named for Isabella and Jerome Karle, distinguished graduates of our department, who worked together to advance X-ray crystallography methods.  The day was filled with student talks, poster sessions, a PPG plenary lecture, and a keynote lecture. This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Stuart Conway from Oxford University who presented: “Chemical Epigenetics: Chemical Approaches to Understanding the Function of Epigenetic Machinery in Disease”. This annual symposium is a great opportunity to hear about the ongoing research within the chemistry department.

The Bailey lab was represented in the analytical poster sessions by rising fourth year, Marina Sarcinella, and rising third year, Krista Meserve. Marina presented: “Characterization of Multi-Lipid Nanodisc Composition by LC-MS/MS”, while Krista presented: “Using a multiplexed biosensor immunoassay for basal neonate immune system characterization”. Both Marina and Krista received poster presentation travel awards for their work. Congrats!

In addition, the Bailey Lab was represented in the Karle organizing committee. Rising fifth year, Gloria Diaz, served as a co-chair of the symposium and Marina was a part of the organizing team. Congratulations to Gloria for chairing a successful event!

Publication Alert! Check out Shannon's recent paper in Analyst!

Characterization of the Impact of Mixing and Droplet Volumes on the Behavior of Microfluidic Ion-Selective Droptodes

Abstract

Droplet microfluidic optodes, or “droptodes”, have emerged as a powerful technology for rapid detection of small ions in complex matrices. While using segmented aqueous phases provides the benefits of sample isolation, the influence of the liquid nature of the oil carrier phase has not yet been explored. In this paper, we examine the influence of microfluidic parameters on droptode efficiency, using potassium-sensitive droptodes as a model system. We found that while changing flow rates on device does not change droptode performance, both channel geometry and droplet size significantly impact droptode efficiency. Specifically, enhanced mixing of the droplets leads to faster equilibration on device and lowers limits of detection by about one order of magnitude. We also found that increasing the size of the sample droplet, at the expense of the size of the oil carrier/sensing phase, leads to higher sensitivity in the linear region of the droptode. These easily manipulated properties will allow one device to potentially be adapted for several different applications, based upon the type and concentration range of measurement required.

Congrats to Dr. Shannon!

Read the full paper here!

Congrats to Dr. Colleen Riordan!

On Monday, Colleen successfully defended her thesis titled “Developing Microfluidic Devices for the Optimization of Nanodiscs to Measure Membrane Protein Structure and Function." 

In the coming weeks, Dr. Riordan will begin working at GlaxoSmithKline as an Investigator.

Congratulations and best wishes to Colleen from all of us in the Bailey Lab!!

Congratulations to Dr. Shannon Quevedo!

Shannon successfully defended her thesis titled “Organic Phases in Microfluidic Systems: Enabling Real-Time Sensing of Small Molecules." 

Dr. Quevedo will soon become Major Quevedo as she begins her tenure track faculty position at Virginia Military Institute this fall.

Congrats and best wishes to Shannon from all of us in the Bailey Lab!!

Congratulations to Dr. John Orlet!

The zoom defenses continue! Today, John defended his thesis titled “New Interfaces to Silicon Photonic Microring Resonator Arrays for Chemical Separations." 

Dr. Orlet will be starting the next phase of his career in a Scientist position at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Best wishes to John from all of us in the Bailey Lab!!

The Bailey Lab Presents at Pittcon 2021

Current students Nick (3rd year), Claire (3rd year) and Krista (2nd year), along with Professor Bailey, virtually presented their work at Pittcon’s 2021 meeting. While the sights, sounds and tastes of NOLA were surely missed, there was no shortage of oral presentations, poster sessions, and fun excursions (via zoom) to fill up the week.

Congratulations to Dr. Cole Chapman!

This week, in a virtual format, Cole defended his thesis titled “Clinical Diagnostics for Immune Response Assessment Through Multiplexed Biosensor Immunoassays In At-Risk Populations." 

In March, Cole will continue his work with photonic-based diagnostics as a research scientist at SiPhox in Burlington, Massachusetts .

Congratulations to Dr. Chapman from all of us in the Bailey Lab!!

Congratulations to Dr. Sara Medfisch!

On Friday, Sara defended her thesis titled “Optimization of Nanodisc Array Generation on Silicon Photonic Microring Resonators for Lipid-Protein and Membrane Protein-Protein Interaction Characterization." 

Next month, Sara will begin her career as a scientist at NGM Biopharmaceuticals in San Francisco, California.

Congratulations to Dr. Medfisch from all of us in the Bailey Lab!

Congrats to Dr. Emily Mordan!

In the Bailey Lab’s first virtual defense, Dr. Emily Mordan defended her thesis titled “Addressing Common HPLC Detector Challenges using Silicon Photonic Microring Resonators with Applications for Polymer Separations and More." 

This January, she will begin her career at Dow, as a Senior Research Specialist in Analytical R&D!

Congratulations to Emily from all of us in the Bailey Lab!

Congratulations to Sara and Ellen on this latest publication!

Phosphatidylethanolamine-phosphatidylserine binding synergy of seven coagulation factors revealed using Nanodisc arrays on silicon photonic sensors

Abstract

Blood coagulation is regulated through protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions that occur at the sub-endothelium following vascular damage. Soluble clotting proteins bind to membrane components in a phosphatidylserine (PS) dependent manner to assemble multi-protein complexes that regulate clot formation; however, PS is of limited abundance physiologically. In this manuscript, we investigate synergy between PS and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE)-a lipid of much higher abundance naturally. Using a label-free, silicon photonic technology, we constructed arrays of Nanodiscs having variable lipid composition and probed the binding interactions of seven different clotting factors with GLA domains that have never been studied in tandem experiments before. The factors studied were prothrombin, activated factor VII, factor IX, factor X, activated protein C, protein S, and protein Z. Equilibrium dissociation constants (Kd) for each coagulation factor binding to Nanodiscs with unique compositions of PE and PS were determined. While all factors showed greater binding affinities in the presence of PS and PE, the most dramatic improvements in binding were observed when PS quantities were lowest. This demonstrates that synergy is effective in promoting coagulation factor binding under physiological lipid compositions, as opposed to the artificially high PS content probed in most in vitro activity studies.

Read the full article here!