Abstract: Bioluminescent enzymes (luciferases) are among the most popular reporters for illuminating biological processes in vivo. Luciferases emit light by catalyzing the oxidation of small molecule luciferins. Since no excitation light is needed, there is virtually no background signal. Thus, bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is extremely sensitive and well-suited for applications in tissues and whole organisms.

Abstract: Bioluminescence imaging with luciferase-luciferin pairs is routinely used to monitor cellular events in real time. This technology relies on enzymes (luciferases) that catalyze the adenylation and oxidation of small molecules (luciferins), resulting in light. While powerful, this imaging modality has rarely been applied to multicomponent imaging due to a lack of distinguishable probes. Recent efforts have expanded the bioluminescence toolkit by engineering luciferases that selectively react with synthetic substrates (i.e., “orthogonal pairs”).

Abstract: Atmospheric nanoparticle formation and growth processes are major sources of uncertainty in our understanding of global climate. However, nanoparticle composition is notoriously difficult to measure below 30~nm due to their incredibly low mass, and so a full understanding of the compounds that contribute to nanoparticle growth still remains elusive. In addition, nanoparticle physical and chemical properties are continuously changing at different sizes.

Abstract: In light of the unique ability of ribonucleic acid (RNA) to both retain genetic information and catalyze chemical reactions, it has been proposed that life on Earth progressed through an RNA world. It has been demonstrated that phosphate was present on an early Earth and due to the prevalence of modern-day energy metabolisms that rely on phosphorylation, it is likely that phosphate played a key role in prebiotic chemistry. We characterize a number of phosphate-based reactions ranging from formation of triphosphates to RNA repair.

In this dissertation, the diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) method is applied to study the ground state of anionic hydrogen, neutral para-hydrogen, and Lennard Jones clusters. The nuclear quantum effects in anionic hydrogen and neutral para-hydrogen clusters are investigated based on previous claims related to the existence of “magic numbers”. In anionic hydrogen clusters H−(H2)n, the binding energies are found to be a smooth function of increasing cluster size, and their ground state wavefunctions are highly delocalized and do not resemble the structures of the potential energy surface minima.