Project Grant R21EB040365

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering awarded Emory University $217,443 on August 5, 2026, under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286) to develop class-selective chemical probes that distinguish reactive aldehyde signaling in living systems.

The research will create a sensing platform capable of discriminating four mechanistically distinct classes of reactive aldehydes—monoaldehydes, α-dicarbonyls, catechol aldehydes, and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes—using "two-key" chemical logic to enable orthogonal detection in live cells. Current probes report only a pooled "total carbonyl" signal, forcing investigators to infer chemistry from indirect readouts rather than measure specific species. The project pursues two specific aims: development of turn-on sensors for monoaldehydes and α-dicarbonyls using thiol-amine-based and guanidinium-based scaffolds, validated against LC/MS benchmarks for sensitivity and selectivity; and development of FRET sensors for catechol aldehydes and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes using unimolecular anchor-and-latch designs that create high effective molarity environments to kinetically outcompete metabolic sinks.

Performance occurs in Atlanta, Georgia. The period of performance runs from the award date through July 31, 2028. This is a project grant under the NIH R21 mechanism, which supports hypothesis-driven research related to discovery and application of biomedical imaging and bioengineering technologies.