Research Tools

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Fluorescent labels having near-infrared (NIR) emission wavelengths have the ability to penetrate tissue deeper than other emission wavelengths, providing enormous potential for non-invasive imaging applications. However, advancement of optical imaging (particularly NIR imaging) is hindered by the limitation of narrow Stokes shift of most infrared dyes currently available in the market. Vanderbilt researchers have developed a novel NIR dye (4-Sulfonir) for multichannel imaging that enables in vivo imaging of multiple targets due to its large Stokes shift. 4-Sulfonir with its unique large Stokes shift (~150 nm) and wide excitation spectrum could be used in parallel with other NIR dyes for imaging two molecular events simultaneously in one target.

Vanderbilt researchers have created a new multi-organs-on-chip platform that comprises Perfusion Control systems, MicroFormulators, and MicroClinical Analyzers connected via fluidic networks. The real-time combination of multiple different solutions to create customized perfusion media and the analysis of the effluents from each well are both controlled by the intelligent use of a computer-operated system of pumps and valves. This permits, for the first time, a compact, low-cost system for creating a time-dependent drug dosage profile in a tissue system inside each well.

We all wish that we could know if we were going to later remember something, the moment that new information enters our brain. For example, if we could predict whether our children would later remember a vocabulary word, then we could have them spend more time on the words they will not remember. A group of neuroscientists at Vanderbilt University has developed a way of measuring and analyzing brain activity that achieves this goal of predicting later memory as we study and view new information. The procedure involves measuring brainwaves from just two electrodes on the head as people view pictures, words, or virtually any kind of information that a person hopes to remember later.

Mammalian expression plasmids encoding mutant human voltage-gated sodium channel (NaV1.5) cDNA for use in heterologous expression studies. The plasmids encode versions of NaV1.5 with specific mutations identified in patients with congenital long-QT syndrome type 3 (LQT3 mutations).