Activity-Based Sensing Approaches to Decipher Transition Metal Signaling (DCS Special Colloquium)

	Traditional strategies for development of chemoselective imaging reagents rely on molecular recognition and static lock-and-key binding to achieve high specificity. We are advancing an alternative approach to chemical probe design, termed activity-based sensing (ABS), in which we exploit inherent differences in chemical reactivity as a foundation for distinguishing between chemical analytes that are similar in shape and size within complex biological systems. This presentation will focus on ABS approaches to develop new fluorescent probes for transition metals and reactive oxygen, sulfur, and carbon species and their signal/stress contributions to living systems, along with activity-based proteomics to identify novel targets and pathways that these emerging classes of chemical signals regulate.