School of Chemistry

Dejian Zhou

Senior Lecturer
Research section: Inorganic & Materials Chemistry

Contact details

Keywords

Nanomaterials
Smart Nanoparticle Sensor
Drug Delivery
Single-Molecule Studies

Research interests

Materials on the nanometre scale (1-100 nm) have unique, sized-dependent optical and electrical properties that are distinct and unavailable from the bulk. We are interested in developing novel, functional nanomaterials and structures, investigating their unique properties and exploring their applications. Current group research activities include the following three themes:

Smart nanoparticle-aptamer sensors Aptamers are short artificial DNA or RNA oligonucleotides generated to bind a wide range of targets with high affinity and specificity. We are developing smart nanoparticle-aptamer sensing technology suitable for fast and sensitive detection of a wide range of targets, from toxic food residues, street drugs, environmental pollutants to disease biomarkers. We are also developing ultra-sensitive technologies capable of detecting sub fM (10^-15M) concentrations of disease markers by combining smart nanoparticles and sensitive, single-molecule fluorescence readouts, which may allow earlier and faster diagnosis of some important diseases, such as cancer that are impossible for conventional methods (with Prof. Peter Stockley, FBS, Leeds).

Nanoparticle-bioconjugate devices. We are developing functional nanoparticle-bioconjugate devices, e.g. hybrid nanoparticle-DNA devices that maybe used as targeted drug delivery systems or local pH nanosensors which maybe useful for targeting cancer tumours (with Prof. Dongsheng Liu, Tsinghua, China). We are developing nanoparticle-polymer based targeted nanoscale drug delivery systems which could significantly enhance the therapeutic index and reducing the side-effects of chemotherapy (with Dr Rongjun Chen, Leeds). We are developing enzyme coupled nanoparticles as novel re-usable biosensors and studying the energy transfer between quantum dots and fluorescent proteins (with Dr Michael Webb, Leeds).

Single-molecule studies. The unique advantage of single-molecule (SM) method is that it can study individual SMs one at a time, avoiding ensemble average and complicated separation processes. We are using SM fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to probe the structural information and pathogen recognition of important viral receptors (with Prof. Kurt Drickamer, Imperial College). We are also investigating the folding/unfolding of G-quadruplex DNAs and their interactions with drugs and/or proteins using AFM force spectroscopy (with Prof. Kumar Sinniah, Kelvin College, USA)

Useful links

BBC News highlighted some of my work   
CV and publications   
   

Selected publications

E. Cheng, Y. Xing, P. Chen, Y. Yang, Y. Sun, D. Zhou,* L. Xu, Q. Fan and D. Liu*, “A pH-trigged, fast-responding DNA hydrogel” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2009, 48, 7660-7663.

S. Lynch, H. Baker, S. G. Byker, D. Zhou* and K. Sinniah*, “Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy on G-Quadruplex DNA” Chem. Eur. J., 2009, 15, 8113-8116.

W. Wang, Y. Yang, E. Cheng, M. Zhao, H. Meng, D. Liu* and D. Zhou*, “A pH-driven, reconfigurable DNA nanotriangle” Chem. Commun., 2009, 824-826.

W. Ndieyira, M. Watari, A. D. Barrera, D. Zhou, M. Vögtli, M. Batchelor, M. A. Cooper, T. Strunz, M. A. Horton, C. Abell, T. Rayment, G. Aeppli, and R. A. McKendry, “Nanomechanical Detection of Antibiotic-Mucopeptide Binding in a Model for Superbug Drug Resistance” Nature Nanotech., 2008, 3, 691-696.