Bruce Armitage

About

Bruce Armitage is associated with the Center for Nucleic Acids Science and Technology (CNAST) at Carnegie Mellon University. CNAST is an interdisciplinary community of scientists and engineers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, focused on the chemistry, biology, and physics of DNA, RNA, and peptide nucleic acid (PNA). The center aims to advance understanding of the fundamental biology of nucleic acids and develop new technology through multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach strategies. Established in 2008, CNAST has grown through new research directions and partnerships, supported by significant grants such as a $3.9 million award from the David Scaife Family Charitable Foundation in 2011. The center leverages Carnegie Mellon's tradition of interdisciplinary and collaborative research to create cutting-edge projects and educational activities.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Computational biology
• Biology
• Molecular biology
• Virology
• Materials science
• Biophysics
• Organic chemistry
• Genetics

Selected publications

• Fluoromodules Consisting of a Promiscuous RNA Aptamer and Red or Blue Fluorogenic Cyanine Dyes: Selection, Characterization, and Bioimaging

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2017-06-23 · 115 citations

  articleSenior author

  An RNA aptamer selected for binding to the fluorogenic cyanine dye, dimethylindole red (DIR), also binds and activates another cyanine, oxazole thiazole blue (OTB), giving two well-resolved emission colors. The aptamer binds to each dye with submicromolar KD values, and the resulting fluoromodules exhibit fluorescence quantum yields ranging from 0.17 to 0.51 and excellent photostability. The aptamer was fused to a second aptamer previously selected for binding to the epidermal growth factor rece…

  PublisherDOI

• Bright Fluorescent Nanotags from Bottlebrush Polymers with DNA-Tipped Bristles

  ACS Central Science · 2015-11-04 · 69 citations

  articleOpen access

  Bright signal outputs are needed for fluorescence detection of biomolecules at their native expression levels. Increasing the number of labels on a probe often results in crowding-induced self-quenching of chromophores, and maintaining the function of the targeting moiety (e.g., an antibody) is a concern. Here we demonstrate a simple method to accommodate thousands of fluorescent dye molecules on a single antibody probe while avoiding the negative effects of self-quenching. We use a bottlebrush…

  PublisherDOI

• Structural basis for activation of fluorogenic dyes by an RNA aptamer lacking a G-quadruplex motif

  Nature Communications · 2018-10-25 · 50 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The DIR2s RNA aptamer, a second-generation, in-vitro selected binder to dimethylindole red (DIR), activates the fluorescence of cyanine dyes, DIR and oxazole thiazole blue (OTB), allowing detection of two well-resolved emission colors. Using Fab BL3-6 and its cognate hairpin as a crystallization module, we solved the crystal structures of both the apo and OTB-SO 3 bound forms of DIR2s at 2.0 Å and 1.8 Å resolution, respectively. DIR2s adopts a compact, tuning fork-like architecture comp…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Closing the Loop: Constraining TAT Peptide by γPNA Hairpin for Enhanced Cellular Delivery of Biomolecules

  Bioconjugate Chemistry · 2018-08-21 · 24 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Based on the exceptionally high stability of γPNA duplexes, we designed a peptide/γPNA chimera in which a cell-penetrating TAT peptide is flanked by two short complementary γPNA segments. Intramolecular hybridization of the γPNA segments results in a stable hairpin conformation in which the TAT peptide is constrained to form the loop. The TAT/γPNA hairpin (self-cyclized TAT peptide) enters cells at least 10-fold more efficiently than its nonhairpin analog in which the two γPNA segments are nonco…

  PublisherDOI

• RNA G-Quadruplex Invasion and Translation Inhibition by Antisense γ-Peptide Nucleic Acid Oligomers

  Biochemistry · 2016-03-09 · 24 citations

  articleSenior author

  We have examined the abilities of three complementary γ-peptide nucleic acid (γPNA) oligomers to invade an RNA G-quadruplex and potently inhibit translation of a luciferase reporter transcript containing the quadruplex-forming sequence (QFS) within its 5'-untranslated region. All three γPNA oligomers bind with low nanomolar affinities to an RNA oligonucleotide containing the QFS. However, while all probes inhibit translation with low to midnanomolar IC50 values, the γPNA designed to hybridize to…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01GM058547

  NIH · $1.6M · 2011

• MRI: Acquisition of Surface Plasmon Resonance and Calorimetry Instrumentation

  NSF · $429k · 2008–2011

• NIH Grant R01GM080994

  NIH · $1.2M · 2012

Frequent coauthors

• Alan S. Waggoner

  Carnegie Mellon University

  40 shared

• Gary B. Schuster

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  33 shared

• Danith H. Ly

  29 shared

• W. David Wilson

  Georgia State University

  26 shared

• Marcel P. Bruchez

  Carnegie Mellon University

  17 shared

• David W. Boykin

  AID Atlanta

  16 shared

• Kimberly J. Zanotti

  National Institute on Aging

  16 shared

• Christelle Tardy

  Inserm

  16 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  University of Arizona

  1993

• Other

  University of Illinois

  1993

• Other

  Georgia Tech

  1995

• Other

  University of Copenhagen

  1997

Awards & honors

• William and Frances Ryan Award for Meritorious Teaching (201…
• President of Inter-American Photochemical Society (2010–2012…
• Co-Chair of 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Photochemistr…
• Senior Editor of American Chemical Society journal Langmuir…
• Elected to Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society (2007)

Similar researchers at Carnegie Mellon University

• Rongchao Jinh-128
• Tomasz Kowalewskih-77
• Terrence J. Collinsh-69