Vasquez, Yolanda

2015
Shastri A, McGregor LM, Liu Y, Harris V, Nan H, Mujica M, Vasquez Y, Bhattacharya A, Ma Y, Aizenberg M, et al. An aptamer-functionalized chemomechanically modulated biomolecule catch-and-release system. Nat. Chem. 2015;7 (5) :447-454. Full TextAbstract
The efficient extraction of (bio)molecules from fluid mixtures is vital for applications ranging from target characterization in (bio)chemistry to environmental analysis and biomedical diagnostics. Inspired by biological processes that seamlessly synchronize the capture, transport and release of biomolecules, we designed a robust chemomechanical sorting system capable of the concerted catch and release of target biomolecules from a solution mixture. The hybrid system is composed of target-specific, reversible binding sites attached to microscopic fins embedded in a responsive hydrogel that moves the cargo between two chemically distinct environments. To demonstrate the utility of the system, we focus on the effective separation of ​thrombin by synchronizing the pH-dependent binding strength of a ​thrombin-specific aptamer with volume changes of the pH-responsive hydrogel in a biphasic microfluidic regime, and show a non-destructive separation that has a quantitative sorting efficiency, as well as the system's stability and amenability to multiple solution recycling.
2014
Vasquez Y, Kolle M, Mishchenko L, Hatton BD, Aizenberg J. Three-Phase Co-Assembly: In-situ Incorporation of Nanoparticles into Tunable, Highly-Ordered, Porous Silica FIlms. ACS Photonics. 2014;1 (1) :53-60. Full TextAbstract

We present a reproducible, one-pot colloidal co-assembly approach that results in large-scale, highly ordered porous silica films with embedded, uniformly distributed, accessible gold nanoparticles. The unique coloration of these inverse opal films combines iridescence with plasmonic effects. The coupled optical properties are easily tunable either by changing the concentration of added nanoparticles to the solution before assembly or by localized growth of the embedded Au nanoparticles upon exposure to tetrachloroauric acid solution, after colloidal template removal. The presence of the selectively absorbing particles furthermore enhances the hue and saturation of the inverse opals’ color by suppressing incoherent diffuse scattering. The composition and optical properties of these films are demonstrated to be locally tunable using selective functionalization of the doped opals.

2011
Vasquez Y, Fenton EM, Chernow VF, and Aizenberg J. Growth of polygonal rings and wires of CuS on structured surfaces. Cryst. Eng. Comm. 2011;13 :1077-1080. 2011_vasquez_etal_crytengcomm.pdf