Minority Research Opportunities in Science and Engineering at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)Paul Charles (PI), George Spanos (Co-PI), US Naval Research Laboratory, DMR 0601364

Overall Program:

• NRL has provided undergraduate research opportunities for 10-15 minority students per year (over past 15 years) through an NSF REU program

• Highly qualified Science, Math, and Engineering students selected from Historically Black Colleges, Minority Institutions, and/or Tribal Colleges & Universities (HBCU/ MI/TCUs) conduct “hands-on” 10-week research projects involving cutting edge, creative concepts in various thrust areas including Material Science & Engineering, Bio-fuel Cells/Energy Harvesting, Novel Optical Materials and Sensor Design

• Mentored by leading researchers (Ph.Ds) in their field as demonstrated by their established track record and publication output in high impact scientific journals (e.g., Nature, JACS, Analytical Chemistry, Phys. Rev. E, Langmuir and Scripta Materialia)

•Students often become co-authors on peer-reviewed publications

Specific Project Example (2006): "Fluorescent Signal Amplification of Carbocyanine Dyes Using Engineered Viral Nanoparticles" •Mentors: Drs. B. Ratna and C. Soto - Center for Bio/Molecular Sci. & Eng. •Takes advantage of exquisite specificity of biological systems by using a plant viral capsid as a scaffold •A primary objective for students: to increase number of dye molecules with controlled intermolecular distances that would eliminate self-quenching of a reporter dye and increase immunoassay/sensor sensitivity. •Optimized reaction conditions (i.e., pH, time) and purification schemes to increase the dye-to-virus ratios of a variety of dyes and CPMV mutants•Fluorescence studies conducted to determine efficiency of signal output

Results:•Followed on from the earlier work in which Dr. Soto and colleagues reported an enhancement in the fluorescent signal of the carbocyanine dye Cy5 by using the engineered virus (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 5184-5189).a

•Demonstrated that organized spatial distribution of Cy5 reporter molecules on capsid obviates problem of fluorescence quenching •Results suggest applications for the virus are very attractive for development of sensor systems and immunostaining of tissues and cells

Intellectual Merit(a)

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Figure 1. Cysteine-mutant of Cowpea mosaic virus. (a) A 30 nm diameter icosahedral virus particle, EF-CPMV, made of 60 identical protein subunits containing a total of 60 cysteines (thiol-containing group shown as white circles). (b) EF-CPMV protein subunit.

Figure 2. Comparison of NA-Cy5-CPMV with commonly utilized detection methods. (a) direct incorporation of Cy5-dCTP(white); (b) Cy5-streptavidin (gray); (c) NA-Cy5-CPMV (black)a

Broader Impact

Overall Program - Broad Impact:

•Major goal: to impact broader scientific community by encouraging minority students to pursue advanced degrees in Science, Math, Engineering, and related disciplines

•Students receive formal training on laboratory protocols and instrument operation with a gradual progression during their tenure to a much higher level of independence

•Attend scientific and skill set seminars, write weekly project reports and a final written project report, deliver an oral presentation.

•Site visits to local Graduate Schools provide students the opportunity to discuss admissions criteria, financial aid, and life as a graduate student

•Overall anticipated benefits to society include first hand experience of high level research to students in underrepresented groups

•Emphasis on encouraging students toward graduate studies, teaching, and/or careers in science and technology

•Benefit to scientific community in scientific findings and publications resulting from research projects

Minority Research Opportunities in Science and Engineering at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)

Paul Charles (PI), George Spanos (Co-PI), US Naval Research Laboratory, DMR 0601364

Students working in laboratory at the Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering