This lecture will describe my lab’s work to measure proteases using nanoparticles, small molecule, and hybrid systems. I will discuss our efforts during the pandemic to identify the so-called main protease and papain-like protease implicated in SARS-class viruses. The importance of proper substrate selection and nanoparticle surface chemistry will be emphasized. In a second example, I will discuss our efforts at imaging the gingipain proteases implicated in periodontal disease and Alzheimer’s disease. I will discuss novel detection strategies that use gold nanorod disassembly to facilitate signal activation including the validation of this approach with small animal models infected with P. gingivalis and controls infected with F. nucleatum.

Presenter Biography:
Jesse V. Jokerst is a Professor in the Department of Nano and Chemical Engineering at UC San Diego. Dr. Jokerst graduated cum laude from Truman State University in 2003 with a B.S. in Chemistry and completed a Ph.D. in Chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin in 2009. Jesse was a postdoc at Stanford Radiology from 2009-2013 and was an Instructor in that same department from 2013-2015. Jesse started at UCSD in July of 2015, and he has received the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, the NIH New Innovator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Stanford Radiology Alumni of the Year Award, and is a Truman State Distinguished Alumni Fellow. He is the PI of multiple federal grants, is an Associate Editor at ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, and is currently chairing the NIH study section on imaging probes and contrast agents.

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