Georgia Smith

• Mchem (Hons) Chemistry
• Synthesis of Fluorescent Phosphonium Salts as Imaging Agents of Mitochondrial Dysfunction

The LJH research group has developed new fluorescent compounds which are highly selective for mitochondria, on account of their positive charge which attracts them across the organelle’s outer, negatively charged membrane. Importantly, if the charge on the membrane is altered, due to mitochondrial damage, the probes ability to cross the membrane is perturbed and this can be evaluated by flow cytometry - thus the accumulation of the probes in the mitochondria could be used to assess whether there is evidence of dysfunction or not. As mitochondrial damage has been implicated in a wide variety of diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, the potential to detect problems early on without invasive surgery is very attractive. Currently we have only synthesised two such probes and in this project the student will prepare four new compounds of differing structures, which will help us delineate which properties give the best imaging performance. Following their synthesis these probes will then be assessed at the end of the project by our collaborators at Newcastle University’s world-renowned Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research http://www.newcastle-mitochondria.com/

Funding source: Newcastle University

Supervisor: Dr Lee Higham