Aaron Schwartz-Duval

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | MD Anderson · Department of Imaging Physics

Of late, many synthesis processes have been studied to develop irregular nano-morphologies of gold nanostructures for biomedical applications in order to increase the efficacy of nanoparticle theranostics, tune the plasmonic absorbance spectra, and increase the sensitivity of biomolecule detection through surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Here w...

Conventional analytical techniques, which have been developed for high sensitivity and selectivity for the detection and quantification of relevant biomarkers, may not be as suitable for medical diagnosis in resource scarce environments as compared to point-of-care devices (POC). We have developed a new reactive sensing material which contains ioni...

Various cancer cells have been demonstrated to have the capacity to form plasmonic gold nanoparticles when chloroauric acid is introduced to their cellular microenvironment. But their biomedical applications are limited, particularly considering the millimolar concentrations and longer incubation period of ionic gold. Here, we describe a simplistic...

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have shown considerable potential in a vast number of biomedical applications. However, currently there are no clinically approved injectable GNP formulations. Conversely, gold salts have been used in the clinic for nearly a century. Further, there is evidence of GNP formation in patients treated with gold salts (i.e., chr...

By using complementary DNA sequences as surface ligands, we selectively allow two individual diffusing ‘dual-color’ carbon dots to interact in situ and in vitro. Spontaneous nanoscale oxidation of surface-abundant nitroso-/nitro- functionalities leads to two distinctly colored carbon dots (CD) which are isolated by polarity driven chromatographic s...

Nanoparticle imaging probes and drug delivery systems have distinct advantages over free or diffusive delivery in that they can concentrate the imaging contrast agent and/or drug, elicit controlled release/degradation, and have a high surface area to volume ratio beneficial for attaching targeting ligands. The size of these nanoparticles affects de...

Carbon dots (CDs) have garnered significant recent attention owing to their excellent luminescence properties, thereby demonstrating a variety of applications for in vitro and in vivo imaging. Understanding the long-term metabolic fate of these agents in a biological environment is the focus of this work. Here we show that the CDs undergo peroxide...

In this work, an ultra-sensitive and highly selective electrochemical sensor chip interfaced with AD5933 is devised for potential use as a digital stress analyzer for point-of-care testing (POCT), preventive on-site recording of a hormone ‘cortisol’, a glucocorticoid class of steroid hormone, present in the human saliva. AD5933 was re-configured an...

The receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) is central to multiple disease states, including diabetes-related conditions such as peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Despite RAGE's importance in these pathologies, there remains a need for a molecular imaging agent that can accurately assess RAGE levels in vivo. Therefore, we have develope...

Nanoparticle imaging probes and drug delivery systems have distinct advantages over free or diffusive delivery in that they can concentrate the imaging contrast agent and/or drug, elicit controlled release/degradation, and have a high surface area to volume ratio beneficial for attaching targeting ligands. The size of these nanoparticles affects de...

For robust single particle optical detection, a high sensitivity in photoluminescence (PL) of Carbon Dots (CDs) must be achieved. PL sensitivity can be successfully correlated with their surface chemistry but requires high synthetic control without altering their basic surface properties. Here we describe conditions for the controlled synthesis of...

Although significant technological advancements have been made in the development of analytical biosensor chips for detecting bacterial strains (E. coli, S. Mutans and B. Subtilis), critical requirements i.e. limit of detection (LOD), fast time of response, ultra-sensitivity with high reproducibility and good shelf-life with robust sensing capabili...

Theranostic nanoparticles have incredible potential for biomedical applications by enabling visual confirmation of therapeutic efficacy. Numerous issues challenge their clinical translation and are primarily related to the complex chemistry and scalability of synthesizing Nanoparticles. We report a 2-step chemical strategy for high-throughput intra...

Surface abundant oxidize-able functionalities at the nanoscale of carbon dots are prone to undergo sequential aerial oxidation leading to polarity-driven wavelength tuning of their photoluminescence and consequently boost their quantum yields. With the progression of time, aerial oxidation is gradually increased from 1 to 6 h; consequently, a remar...

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a commonly used biomarker for the detection of prostate cancer (PCa) and there are numerous data available for its invasive detection in serum and whole blood. In this work, an electrochemical sensing method was devised to detect the traces of PSA in human saliva using a hybrid nanocomposite of graphene nanoplatel...

Spheroidal nanoparticles of algal (‘phytonic’) origin were synthesized comprising carbonaceous architectures and surface-rich oxygenated functional groups. Nanoparticles were negatively charged and efficiently luminescent post ultraviolet range excitation. A multitude of analytical techniques confirmed the rich profusion of hydroxyl, carboxylate, a...

Host defense peptides (HDPs) are a class of evolutionarily conserved substances of the innate immune response that has been identified as major players in the defense system in many living organisms. Some of the HDPs are also referred as peptidotoxins which offer immense potential for anti-cancer therapy. However, their therapeutic potential is yet...

The nanoparticles (NPs) that contain the therapeutic agent within themselves without further modifications can be coined as ‘self-therapeutic’ NPs. The development of these agents especially when derived from natural resources can lead to a paradigm shift in the field of cancer nanotechnology as they can immensely facilitate the complex chemistry p...

Lack of current techniques for the early monitoring of bleb leaks and other post-traumatic or post-surgical ocular injury has posed an unmet clinical need for the development of new techniques. Present evaluation techniques use either subjective or non-quantitative approaches. At present, there are no FDA approved ocular devices that can directly m...

Cortisol has been identified as a biomarker in saliva to monitor psychological stress. In this work, we report label-free paper-based electrical biosensor chip to quantify salivary cortisol at a point-of-care (POC) level. A high specificity of the sensor chip to detect cortisol with detection limit of 3 pg/mL was achieved by conjugating anti-cortis...

The use of cesium chloride (CsCl) for cancer therapy ("high pH therapy") has been theorized to produce anticancer properties by raising intracellular pH to induce apoptosis. Although considered as "alternative medicine", little scientific evidence supports this theory. Alternatively, cells have no cesium ion (Cs⁺) mediated channels for clearance. T...

Chiral carbon nanoparticles (CCNPs) were developed by surface passivation using the chiral ligand (-)-sparteine or (+)-sparteine (denoted (-)-SP/CNP and (+)-SP/CNP, respectively). The chirality of the prepared CCNPs was demonstrated by circular dichroism and polarimetry and employed as an enantioselective separation platform for representative race...

Simultaneous tracking of nanoparticles and encapsulated payload is of great importance and visualizing their activity is arduous. Here we use vibrational spectroscopy to study the in vitro tracking of co-localized lipid nanoparticles and encapsulated drug employing a model system derived from doxorubicin-encapsulated deuterated phospholipid (dodecy...

In this paper, we propose a data acquisition and analysis framework for materials-to-devices processes, named 4CeeD, that focuses on the immense potential of capturing, accurately curating, correlating, and coordinating materials-to-devices digital data in a real-time and trusted manner before fully archiving and publishing them for wide access and...

Many diseases that plague the modern medical world have their origins at the cellular or molecular level and, as such, require greater specificity to be effectively combated and cured. A number of recent advances in understanding the biology and biochemistry have enabled researchers to develop the specialized tools and techniques needed to detect a...

Limited training, high cost, and low equipment mobility leads to inaccuracies in decision making and is concerning with serious ocular injuries such as suspected ruptured globe or post-operative infections. Here, we present a novel point-of-service (POS) quantitative ascorbic acid (AA) assay with use of the OcuCheck Biosensor. The present work desc...

Reports of molecular and cellular imaging using computed tomography (CT) are rapidly increasing. Many of these reports use gold nanoparticles. Bismuth has similar CT contrast properties to gold while being approximately 1000-fold less expensive. Herein we report the design, fabrication, characterization, and CT and fluorescence imaging properties o...

Magnetic nanoparticles containing iron oxide are key technologies for molecular and cellular MRI, magnetic drug delivery, magnetic cell sorting and targeted thermal therapy. Size, coating, cost of production, and many other attributes of encased magnetite crystals dictate the quality of the particles. In this paper we compare two, one-step procedur...