Research Projects

Fluorescent labeling of biomolecules is a non-invasive tool for understanding biological events, such as receptor-ligand interaction, protein structures, and enzyme activity. Carbohydrates, which are abundant, eco-friendly, and economical scaffolds, play a critical role in cell-cell recognition, growth regulation, immune response, cancer cell metastasis, and as energy sources. However, structural modification of carbohydrates is often tedious and leads to alteration in structure and binding properties. This project aims to explore the application of sugar-tailored fluorescent probes for biomedical applications, particularly the Warburg effect, where glucose consumption by tumor cells is high compared to normal cells. Dicyanomethylene-[4H]-pyran (DCM) fluorophores, which combine DCM and glucose moiety, are being explored for their photophysical properties. The project focuses on designing and synthesizing glyco-conjugated DCM derivatives for photodynamic therapy (PDT) and image-guided targeted drug delivery. The triphenylamine-based glyco-conjugated DCM derivative Glu-DCM-1 will be synthesized and evaluated for PDT efficiency, while the DCM-based glyco-dendrimer Glu-DCM-2 will be demonstrated for image-guided targeted drug delivery. The goal is to generate a library of sugar-conjugated fluorophores for bioimaging, sensing, and chemotherapeutic applications.