Analyst Blog

Introducing one of our recent Emerging Investigator Series authors, Dr Jean-Nicolas Dumez! Read Dr Dumez’s recent paper ‘online reaction monitoring by single-scan 2D NMR under flow conditions,’ and find out more about him in the interview below!

Jean-Nicolas Dumez is a CNRS associate scientist at the University of Nantes, working on the developments of NMR methods for the analysis of solution mixture. He did a Ph.D. in solid-state NMR at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon in France, followed by two post-doctoral stays, working in magnetic resonance imaging, at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, then in hyperpolarisation, at the University of Southampton in the UK. He joined the CNRS and moved to solution-state NMR in 2014, first in Paris-Saclay, then in Nantes. He works on the development of NMR methods, and currently focuses on the analysis of solution mixtures.

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on 2D NMR for online reaction monitoring. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

I have worked in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) since my master’s research project, but I have moved from solids to imaging to liquids. My main interest is in the development and use of spin-dynamics tools and concepts to look at molecules. I have enjoyed moving between topics, and this paper includes ingredients collected along the way in these different areas.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

We are working on fast methods related to the ones described in the Analyst paper, which use diffusion information to separate the spectra of molecules in a mixture. This involves concepts that we borrow from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and a nice mix of theory, experiments and simulation. We are also working towards reaction monitoring with these methods.

In your opinion, what is the biggest advantage to using single-scan ultrafast 2D NMR compared to other NMR methods?

The obvious advantage is speed. For out-of-equilibrium systems (chemical reactions, hyperpolarised substrates) that evolves on a minute timescale or less, there is often no other way to collect a full 2D NMR spectrum.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

When developing NMR methods, sometimes finding the right concept is the most challenging aspect and then everything runs smoothly. Sometimes turning this concept into something that works for more than special cases is the real challenge. Both can be interesting, and I find it hard to predict in advance.   

At which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

I usually participate to magnetic resonance conferences such as EUROMAR and ENC. Hopefully the NMR community will be able meet in Asilomar next year!

How do you spend your spare time?

Most of my time outside the lab is happily spent with my family, and I occasionally still get a chance to read a few pages from a novel or listen to a recent record.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I have never contemplated a profession that was not science related, be it teaching, fundamental research, R & D…

We’re very pleased to introduce our latest Emerging Investigator, James Blakemore!

James Blakemore is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kansas. James was raised in Kansas, studied chemistry with Francis D’Souza at Wichita State University, and then moved to Yale University, completing his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2012 as a student of Gary Brudvig and Robert Crabtree. Upon completing his Ph.D., James was a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech with Harry Gray. At KU since 2016, James’s research focuses on use of inorganic and organometallic chemistry with the d- and f-elements to gain new insights into clean energy sources.

Read James’ paper “Electrodeposition behavior of homoleptic transition metal acetonitrile complexes interrogated with piezoelectric gravimetry,” and find out more about him in the interview below.

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on the electrodeposition behaviour of homoleptic transition metal acetonitrile complexes. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?
Our work started by examining a nominally molecular catalyst system that seemed, under some conditions, to form electrodeposited heterogeneous material. This complicates catalyst design, and so we pursued this phenomenon, with the finding that a key homoleptic acetonitrile complex was an intermediate on the path to formation of heterogeneous material. We imagined that such acetonitrile complexes might be a more general class of electrodeposition precursors, and this idea brought us to the work laid out in our new paper.
What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
I am excited about the prospect of applying the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance to more exotic problems in inorganic chemistry. For example, electrochemical work aimed at new processing or purification routes for lanthanide and actinide elements (those from the f-block at the bottom of the periodic table) could be quite useful. The work in our new article shows how such work might be done.

In your opinion, what are the most promising applications of piezoelectric gravimetry?
It is remarkably useful for understanding complex electrochemical systems. In molecular electrochemistry, it is often straightforward to measure currents but understanding the species present in the system giving rise to those currents can be challenging to work out. Piezoelectric gravimetry allows you to study heterogeneous species that might form and/or be present initially, or rule them out. In complex situations like those often required for studies of catalysis, this is crucial information that can totally change your view of the chemistry happening in the system.

What do you find most challenging about your research?
Research in synthetic chemistry, that is, working with compounds that we prepare ourselves rather than those found naturally, is daunting. Sometimes, even if you can design a route to make a new compound, it just won’t work. As my Ph.D. co-supervisor Bob Crabtree used to say, “Sometimes Nature is against us.” Working with a good team, however, makes these setbacks less bitter!

How do you spend your spare time?
I enjoy running, and Kansas is a great place for it; we have many beautiful hills that are gentle on your knees! I have also recently started a new dance class, which is stimulating creativity in all aspects of my life.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
When I was an undergraduate, I wanted to become a linguist. I suppose chemistry is a sort of language, so this might not be a surprise!

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?
One of the great pleasures for me during my time as an early-career scientist has been networking and meeting scientists from many different communities. As a postdoctoral scholar or graduate student, you may work in a narrower area, but as a faculty member, I have had the opportunity to meet a wide range of individuals with many different perspectives. I would advise early career scientists to embrace these opportunities, and the diversity of viewpoints that there are in the world. There are so many kind and supportive people to meet!

We are delighted to introduce our latest Analyst Emerging Investigator, Deanpen Japrung!

Deanpen Japrung received a BSc in Medical Technology from Chulalongkorn University and a MSc in Biochemistry from Mahidol University, Thailand. In 2010, she received a DPhil in Chemical Biology from the University of Oxford under supervision of Prof. Hagan Bayley. A post-doc in Prof. Joshua Edel and Prof. Tim Albrecht’s lab at Imperial College London followed this. In 2012, she became a researcher in Nano-Molecular Target Discovery laboratory, National Nanotechnology center (NANOTEC) and she was promoted to be a team leader of this lab in 2016. Since February 2019, she has also become a research group director of the Responsive Material and Nanosensor Research group. Her research has won awards from the Department of Medical Sciences (DMsc award in 2017), National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT research award in 2018), activity awards from the Diabetes Association of Thailand (in 2017, 2018 and 2019) and a silver medal from the 47^th International Exhibition of Inventions, Switzerland (2019).  So far, she has published 20 papers, more than 20 Thai Patents and 1 US patent (Granted). Her research group is focusing on synthesis and functionalization of responsive nanomaterial and development of nanosensors for disease diagnosis.

Read Deanpen’s Emerging Investigator Series paper “Ultrasensitive detection of lung cancer-associated miRNAs by multiple primer-mediated rolling circle amplification coupled with a graphene oxide fluorescence-based (MPRCA-GO) sensor” (free to access until the end of August 2019) and find out more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on detection of lung cancer-associated MicroRNAs. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?

Our research group is focusing on development of nanosensor platforms for analysis of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, Alzheimer and some cancers. Therefore, our first paper (as an independent researcher) was about the development of an aptasensor platform for the detection of glycated albumin, which is an intermediate biomarker for diabetes mellitus diagnosis (Biosens Bioelectron. 2016 Aug 15;82:140-5). In this paper, we used reduced graphene oxide to quench the fluorescence signal of the fluorescence labelled aptamer, which bind specifically to the glycated albumin. We measured fluorescence intensity when the fluorescence labelled aptamer left the graphene oxide to bind to the glycated albumin (target molecule). We found that the fluorescence intensity was dependent on the concentration of target molecules in the sample. Therefore, we calculated the glycated albumin concentration based on the standard curve from this system. After that we used computer simulation to study the binding mechanism of the DNA aptamer and reduced the graphene oxide (Molecular Simulation, 45:10, 841-848).

After these two publications, we have known how to deal with the graphene oxide quencher system, therefore we have continued develop the nanosensor platform using the reduce graphene oxide system to quench the fluorescence signal tag before binding to the other target molecules, such as DNA, RNA and other proteins. In the recent paper published in Analyst, apart from designing of new multiple primers, templates and using new ligase enzyme, we also used reduced graphene oxide to be a fluorescence quencher for detection of isothermal amplification product of target miRNA (miR-16, 21 and 210), which are biomarkers for lung cancer screening.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

The strategy employed in our study offers a significant improvement in sensitivity (1,000 folds compared to conventional multiple primers-mediated RCA method), specificity and detection time. This could prove very useful when detecting low abundant miRNAs e.g. miRNAs in serum/plasma and body fluids.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for developing sensors for MicroRNA detection?

I think the key design considerations for miRNA analysis is how to improve sensitivity, specificity and quantitative ability of the detection platform. More than 1000 types of microRNA (miRNA) have been discovered in the human body, however just small amount (<1 ng/mL) of miRNA is expressed and released into the blood circulation.

What do you find most challenging about your research?

The biggest challenges when conducting any research are finding real life applications for the research and how to commercialize the findings. To do all this, a research group consisting of multidisciplinary expertise is essential. An effective action plan is also vital.

How do you spend your spare time?

I love to spend time reading, book writing, painting with water colours and trail running. My favorite book is “Good luck” by Alex Rovira and Fernando Trias de Bes.

I am also a founder of the “Japrung Foundation for Rural Education” (2015-present). Our aim is to help poor students from the rural areas of Thailand. We do this by motivating them to believe in their own ability. The Foundation also offers scholarships.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

If I were not a scientist, I would love to be a writer because I love writing. I have been invited to write science articles in Thai newspapers, such as the Thai Post.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

I have always followed four steps to make me a happy scientist. These steps are adapted and combined from my favorite book “Good luck” and the advice from a global career strategist, Laura Sheehan.

1) Be open and ready to change.

2) Gain more experience and adapt your skills.

3) Make meaningful connections.

4) Be a sharing person.

We are delighted to introduce our latest Analyst Emerging Investigator, Ashley Ross!

Ashley Ross is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and a member of the Neuroscience Department and Center for Pediatric Neuroscience. She received her BS in Chemistry in 2009 at Christopher Newport University and was an undergraduate intern at NASA Langley Research Center for 3 years working with Drs. Margaret Pippin and Gao Chen. She received a PhD in Chemistry in Dr. Jill Venton’s lab at the University of Virginia in 2014. In 2014, she became a post-doc in Dr. Rebecca Pompano’s lab at the University of Virginia and was an American Association of Immunologists (AAI) Careers in Immunology Fellow. Since 2017, she has been at UC working on developing electrochemical and microfluidic tools to investigate neurochemical regulated immunity.

Read Ashley’s Emerging Investigator Series paper “Subsecond detection of guanosine using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry” and find out more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on subsecond detection of guanosine using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?
Over the last 10 years, I have focused on developing bioanalytical tools to study complex chemical signaling. My early work in graduate school focused on developing electrochemical tools to study the other important purine, adenosine. Specifically, I developed a new electrode modification procedure which combined carbon nanotubes and Nafion to enhance adenosine detection and I developed a new waveform for fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. My research soon evolved from developing novel tools to studying the release and function of rapid adenosine signaling in the brain. I switched gears quite a bit during my post-doc, where I focused on developing microfluidic tools to locally stimulate live lymph node slices to study the importance of the spatial complexity of the immune system and to quantitate cytokine diffusion within live tissue. My current research interests are focused on developing tools to study communication between the brain and the immune system. This particular paper went back to my roots a bit. We are really interested in guanosine signaling because of its rich involvement in neuroinflammatory processes; however, detecting millisecond changes in guanosine signaling in real-time is not possible with current technology. With FSCV, we are able to explore that rapid mode of signaling.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
I am very excited about the possibility of using FSCV to study brain-immune communication. How the brain and not only its immune system but the peripheral immune system communicates is not well understood, in part due to current technology. We are excited about all the new tools we are developing in the lab to help solve this technological barrier.

In your opinion, what is the biggest advantage of the fast-scan cyclic voltammetry method for guanosine detection?
Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry has excellent temporal and spatial resolution. With this technique, we can make measurements every 100 ms within discrete regions of the brain! Because we get a cyclic voltammogram, we are able to help distinguish what we are measuring. In the case of guanosine, a rapid extracellular signaling profile exists but the current techniques in the field to study guanosine signaling do not have the temporal resolution to capture it. With FSCV, we are hoping we can learn some interesting things about guanosine signaling in the brain!

What do you find most challenging about your research?
The biology! The brain and immune system are so complex! You can develop a technique on the bench but it can fail as soon as it is put into a complex matrix like tissue. Also, it is really difficult to predict what to expect when studying complex biological systems. We make hypotheses but I tell my students to not fall in love with those ideas! Everything can change when you start making actual measurements!

How do you spend your spare time?
I am a mother of two beautiful children, 6 year old Haylee and 3 year old Elijah. My husband Ronnie and I definitely spend most of our spare time with them. My daughter is in ballet, so chauffeuring her around to ballet practice and rehearsals is fun! I also enjoy singing in my spare time. I have been singing and performing since high school so it is definitely a nice “outlet” from work!

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
I have always loved to perform whether it be in singing groups or in musicals, so probably a performer! But more realistically, maybe a paediatrician!

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?
I was given this advice and I think it is so valuable: In the early years, be in the lab with your students! When you are starting out, you are the expert and can help not only set the example in the lab but it helps foster a productive environment early on.

We are delighted to introduce our latest Analyst Emerging Investigator, Peng Miao!

Dr Peng Miao received his BS and MS degrees from School of Life Sciences at Nanjing University in 2008 and 2011. Afterwards, he received his PhD degree from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Biophysics. In 2017, he became a Professor at Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers with an H-index of 21 (Web of Science), authored 15 patents and 2 books. He has received numerous awards and honours, including Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Top 1% of Highly Cited Authors (RSC), CAS President’s Award (Chinese Academy of Sciences), and Science and Technology Award (China Association for Instrumental Analysis). His current research is focused on DNA nanotechnology based bioanalytical chemistry

Read Peng Miao’s Emerging Investigator Series paper “Ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of miRNA based on DNA strand displacement polymerization and Ca2+-dependent DNAzyme cleavage” and find out more about him in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on an ultrasensitive electrochemical biosensor for miRNA evaluation. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?
My first article is about the fabrication of an electrochemical biosensor for the detection of glutathione, which is amplified by DNA modified gold nanoparticles (Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2009, 3347). Later, I was encouraged to develop more efficient signal amplification strategies aided by bottom-up or top-down DNA assembly. After nearly ten years’ efforts, I have developed a series of ultrasensitive biosensors for the detection of different biomolecules including the most recent article, in which strand displacement polymerization and DNAzyme cleavage cycles are involved for dual amplified detection of miRNA.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
DNA is nature’s choice for storing and transmitting genetic information, which is also an excellent nanoscale material to construct bio-architectures for analytical purposes. Taking advantages of the properties like predictable Watson-Crick base pairing and addressability, bottom-up and top-down design principles can be achieved to sensitively identify targets or study molecular interactions, which are really exciting.

In your opinion, what are the most promising applications of this miRNA detection method?
This paper reported an ultrasensitive electrochemical miRNA sensing method with cascade signal amplification. It is capable of monitoring miRNA levels in cells without sample enrichment in a highly selective manner. Therefore, this method could find potential practical applications in miRNA related biological researches. It could also be used as a candidate to replace qRT-PCR for clinical diagnosis.

What do you find most challenging about your research?
The most challenge is to accurately control multiple DNA assembly events at the nano-bio interface.

How do you spend your spare time?
Playing badminton and electronic sports.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
Maybe a programmer.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?
In the early career, scientists should scrupulously choose their research areas and their research work should not be decentralized.

We are delighted to introduce our first Analyst Emerging Investigator, Yi-Lun Ying!

Dr Yi-Lun Ying is the Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST). Her B. Sc in Fine Chemistry and Ph. D in Analytical Chemistry are all from the ECUST. After a doctoral exchange studying in the University of Birmingham, Dr Ying carried out her postdoctoral research on nanopores and nanoelectrodes at ECUST. Since 2016, she started her independent work as an associate professor to focus on the nanospectroelectrochemistry for revealing the heterogeneous structure-activity relationship of the single molecules at ECUST. She has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications, including Nature Nanotechnology (1), Journal of American Chemistry Society (1), Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2), CHEM (1), Chemical Science (3), Chemical Communications (11), Analytical Chemistry (8), Analyst (2) and 6 patents. The total citations of her publications exceed 860 with an H index of 16 (SCI Web of Science). She has given more than 15 oral presentations, including six invited lectures, and has served as Editor Board Member for Scientific Reports. As an active and emerging investigator in analytical chemistry, Dr Ying has received six awards and honours, including the L’Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talents (2016) and Shanghai “Chen Guang” project (2018).

Read Yi-Lun’s Emerging Investigator series paper “A thumb-size electrochemical system for portable sensors” and find out more about her in the interview below:

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on a miniaturised, low-cost electrochemistry instrument sensor. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?
My first scientific publication is about the α-hemolysin nanopore analysis of single oligonucleotide in 2010. In the nanopore measurements, the ionic current directly converts the single molecule behaviours into the electric signals, which mainly requires the high performance electrochemical instrument and software for big data recording and analysis of the ionic current. Therefore, I was encouraged to develop our own amplifier, A/D convertor and software for the high resolution electrochemical measurements. After nearly ten years efforts, our group has designed not only high temporal-spatial resolution instrumentations for nanopore analysis, but also further applied the low-noise amplifier in achieving the thumb-size electrochemical system for portable sensors as presented in this most recent article.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
The performance of an electrochemical sensor is mainly determined by its interface, the instrumentation and analysis algorithm. To address the goal towards sensitivity, specificity, and rapidness of sensing, our group miniaturizes the sensing interface at nanoscale together with developing high-performance sensing instrumentation. These improvements exhibit strong ability for revealing the hidden heterogenous properties of the single analyte at a high throughput. This is really exciting me that strong analytical tools make you deeply understand and “see” the beauty of molecular world. At this moment, we are using our developed electrochemical sensing system to study the function-structure relationship of a redox enzyme.

In your opinion, what is the biggest advantage of this technology and how will it impact environmental monitoring?
Our paper presented a thumb-size, low cost and versatile instrument system with high accuracy and time resolution for portable electrochemical use. Based on sensors of screen printed electrode, the instrument system could be used in electro-chemical applications such as analysis of chemicals and quantitative determination of heavy metals in water. Due to the ultra-small size and low cost (< $15), this instrument system is probably the smallest and cheapest electrochemical instrument system as far as we know. It could be further used in wearable sensors for body fluid analysis, point-of-care diagnostics in local clinic, on-site environment monitoring and tools for experimental education.

What do you find most challenging about your research?
The most challenge is to bring the knowledge of chemistry, electronics, physics, big data analysis together for the comprehensive study in electrochemical analysis.

How do you spend your spare time?
Playing with my 3-year-old daughter

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?
Maybe a graphic designer

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?
I always believe that a collection of small steps will undoubtedly cover great distances