bio-organic chemistry biosensors nanomachines synthetic biochemistry bionanotechnologies

Professor Vallée-Bélisle and his group are inspired by nature in developing biotechnologies and nanotechnologies (biosensors, nanomachines, etc.) aimed at making real improvements in global health and environmental issues.

Simon AJ, Vallée-Bélisle A, Ricci F, Watkins HM, Plaxco KW.. “ Using the population-shift mechanism to rationally introduce “Hill-type” cooperativity into a normally non-cooperative receptor. ” Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 53(36):9471-5.pdf

Simon AJ, Vallée-Bélisle A, Ricci F, Plaxco KW.. “ Intrinsic disorder as a generalizable strategy for the rational design of highly responsive, allosterically cooperative receptors. ” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111(42):15048-53.pdf

Idili A, Vallée-Bélisle A*, Ricci F*. “Programmable pH-triggered DNA nanoswitches. ” J. Am. Chem. Soc.136(16):5836-9. pdf * co-corresponding authors

Idili A, Plaxco KW, Vallée-Bélisle A *, Ricci F *. “Thermodynamic basis for engineering high-affinity, high-specificity binding-induced DNA clamp nanoswitches.” ACS Nano. 7(12):10863-9. pdf * co-corresponding authors

Lawrence C, Vallée-Bélisle A, Pfeil SH, de Mornay D, Lipman EA, Plaxco KW. “A comparison of the folding kinetics of a small, artificially selected DNA aptamer with those of equivalently simple naturally occurring proteins.” Protein Sci. 23(1):56-66. pdf

Porchetta A, Vallée-Bélisle A, Plaxco KW, Ricci F. “Allosterically tunable, DNA-based switches triggered by heavy metals.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135(36):13238-41. pdf

Porchetta A, Vallée-Bélisle A, Plaxco KW, Ricci F. (2012) “Using distal-site mutations and allosteric inhibition to tune, extend, and narrow the useful dynamic range of aptamer-based sensors.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 20601-4. pdf

Ricci,F., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Porchetta, A. Plaxco,K.W. (2012) “Rational Design of Allosteric Inhibitors and Activators Using the Population-Shift Model: In Vitro Validation and Application to an Artificial Biosensor” J. Am. Chem. Soc.134 15177-80. pdf

Vallée-Bélisle, A., Ricci,F., Uzawa, T., Xia,F., Plaxco,K.W. (2012) “Bioelectrochemical Switches for the Quantitative Detection of Antibodies Directly in Whole Blood” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 15197-200. pdf

Vallée-Bélisle, A. & Michnick, S.W. (2012) “Visualizing transient protein-folding intermediates by tryptophan-scanning mutagenesis.” Nat Struct Mol Biol. 19 731-736. pdf

Kang, D., Vallée-Bélisle, A. Plaxco, K.W., Ricci, F., (2012) “Re-engineering Electrochemical Biosensors To Narrow or Extend Their Useful Dynamic Range” Angew Chem Int Ed Engl.516717-21. pdf

Bonham, A.J., Hsieh, K., Ferguson, S., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Ricci, F., Plaxco,K.W. (2012) “Quantification of transcription factor binding in cell extracts using an electrochemical, structure-switching biosensor.” J. Am. Chem. Soc.,134 3346-8. pdf

Vallée-Bélisle, A., Ricci, F., Plaxco, K. W. (2012) “Engineering biosensors with extended, narrowed, or arbitrarily edited dynamic range” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 2876-9. pdf

Watkins, H.M., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Plaxco,K.W. (2012) “Entropic and Electrostatic Effects on the Folding Free Energy of a Surface-Attached Biomolecule: An Experimental and Theoretical Study” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 2120-6. pdf

Perez Rafael, S., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Fabregas, E., Plaxco, K., Palleschi, G., Ricci, F. (2012) “Employing the metabolic “branch point effect” to generate an all-or-none, digital-like response in enzymatic outputs and enzyme-based sensors.” Anal Chem, 84 1076-82. pdf

Kang, D., White, R. J., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Plaxco,K.W., Xia, F. (2012) “DNA-based biomolecular-electronic encoder and decoder devices constructed by multiplex biochip.” NPG Asian Materials, 4 e1. pdf

Ricci,F., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Plaxco,K.W. (2011) “High-Precision, in Vitro Validation of the Sequestration Mechanism for Generating Ultrasensitive Dose-Response Curves in Regulatory Networks” PLoS Comput Biol., 7 e1002171. pdf

Vallée-Bélisle, A., Bonham, A.J., Reigh, N.O., Ricci, F., Plaxco,K.W. (2011) “Transcription factor beacons for the quantitative detection of DNA binding activities” J. Am. Chem. Soc.133 13836-9. pdf

Patterson, A., Caprio, F., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Moscone, D., Plaxco, K. W., Palleschi, G., Ricci, F., (2010) “Using Triplex-Forming Oligonucleotide Probes for the Reagentless, Electrochemical Detection of Double-Stranded DNA.” Anal Chem 82 9109-15. pdf

Abelow, A.E., Schepelina, O., White, R. J., Vallée-Bélisle, A., Plaxco, K. W., Zharov, I., (2010) “Biomimetic glass nanopores employing aptamer gates responsive to a small molecule.” Chem Commun 467984-6. pdf