Before

1. CAREER: Methodology of Aliphatic Biodegradable Photoluminescent Polymer DevelopmentJian Yang, University of Texas at Arlington, DMR 0954109 The research objectives of this CAREER proposal are to fully understand the intriguing photoluminescence mechanism of the novel biodegradable photoluminescent polymers (BPLP), to establish a methodology to expand the family of BPLPs in different classes of polymers, and to study the biocompatibility of the materials in vitro. The fluorescence mechanism of the BPLP was associated to the 6-membered ring pendant to the polymer chain. Our BPLPs can emit tunable fluorescence colors and their nanoparticles can be used to label cells and target cancers in vivo but without a long-term toxicity concern due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. 15min Before 24hr 40hr 18hr B16F10 Fluorescent polymer with tunable fluorescence colors Tail vein-injected BPLP nanoparticles for skin cancer targeting

2. CAREER: Methodology of Aliphatic Biodegradable Photoluminescent Polymer Development Jian Yang, University of Texas at Arlington, DMR 0954109 Broader impacts 1) Developed the first biodegradable polyester biomaterials that intrinsically emit tunable and in vivo detectable fluorescence. 2) Trained a high school AP chemistry teacher who will enhance high school curriculum by integrating what she learned in university labs into high school chemistry classes, thus more high school students can benefit from the on-going cutting-edge research. Dr. Yang is working with a high school AP chemistry teacher (middle) and a graduate student (left) • Diane Manry, Dipendra Gyawali, Jian Yang. Size optimization of biodegradable fluorescent nanogels for cell imaging. Journal of High School Research. 2011 (high school student publication) • Aniket S. Wadajkar, Tejaswi Kadapure, Yi Zhang, Weina Cui, Kytai T. Nguyen, Jian Yang. Dual-imaging enabled cancer-targeting nanoparticles. Advanced Healthcare Materials2012, 1(4): 450-456