Kevin Cash

Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Current molecular probes and sensor technologies present limitations in both the range of targets that can be measured and the ability to function in the complicated in vivo environment. My research program will help answer pressing biomedical questions by developing novel nanosensors that overcome these limitations and applying these new tools in situ. Traditional sensor designs, while being quite valuable for in vitro and laboratory analysis, often fail in vivo due to complications such as sensor invasiveness, sensitivity, selectivity, and limitations from the sensor readout mechanism. Polymeric nanosensors have emerged over the past several years as an excellent nanosensor design platform for continuous in vivo monitoring that overcomes the shortcomings of many traditional sensor designs.

Using nanosensors as a platform, my lab’s research is focused on three key projects to advance this field.

1. Develop the approaches to better control nanosensor function and understand how to adapt nanosensors to measuring in the complicated physiological systems.
2. Use next generation imaging properties and tools to enable function in vivo through the reduction or elimination of biological background signals.
3. Develop nanosensors for improved imaging in complex microbial communities (medical bacterial biofilms & environmental microbial consortia).

Research Group

• John Branning, University of Texas at Dallas
• Adrian Mendonsa, Drexel University
• Samuel Saccomano, Colorado State University
• Tyler Sodia, Metropolitan State University of Denver

Cash Research Group Website

Education

• BS – Northeastern University
• PhD – University of California, Santa Barbara
• Post-Doctoral Study – C.S. Draper Laboratory and Northeastern University

Publications

• Saccomano, SC, Cash, KJ, A near-infrared optical nanosensor for measuring aerobic respiration in microbial systems. Analyst. 2022, 147, 120-129. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1AN01855H
• Sodia, TZ, Davis, AA, Chesney, AP, Perri, JN, Gutierrez, GE, Nepple, CM, Isbell, SM, Cash KJ, Nanoparticle-Based Liquid–Liquid Extraction for the Determination of Metal Ions. ACS Sensors. 2021, 6, 4408-4416. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.1c01780
• Saccomano, SC, Jewell MP, Cash, KJ, A review of chemosensors and biosensors for monitoring biofilm dynamics. Sensors and Actuators Reports. 2021. 3, 100043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snr.2021.100043
• Cash, KJ, Plaxo, KP, News and Views: Signal Transduction with a Swing. Nature Chemistry. 2021. [Invited, not peer reviewed]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00692-4
• Cash, KJ, Malting in the Lab and at Home: The Forgotten Step on the Path to Beer. Journal of Chemical Education. 2021. 98. 1410-1414. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01279
• Ferris, MF, Chesney, AP, Ryan, BJ, Ramesh, U, Panthani, MG, Cash, KJ, Silicon nanocrystals as signal transducers in ionophore-based fluorescent nanosensors. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2021. 331. 129350.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2020.129350
• Dailey, AL, Greer, MD, Sodia TZ, Jewell, MP, Kalin, TA, Cash KJ. LipiSensors: Exploiting Lipid Nanoemulsions to Fabricate Ionophore-Based Nanosensors. Biosensors. 2020. 10 (9), 120. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios10090120
• Jewell, MP, Saccomano, SC, David, AA, Harris, JK, Zemanick, ET, Cash, KJ. Nanodiagnostics to Monitor Biofilm Oxygen Metabolism for Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing. Analyst. 2020. 145, 3996-4003. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/an/d0an00479k/#!divAbstract
• Jewell, MP, Greer, MD, Dailey, AL, Cash, KJ Triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion-based nanosensors for fluorescent detection of potassium. ACS Sensors 2020
• Jewell MP, Galyean AA, Kirk Harris J, Zemanick ET, Cash KJ. Luminescent Nanosensors for Ratiometric Monitoring of Three-Dimensional Oxygen Gradients in Laboratory and Clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2019 Oct 15;85(20)PubMed PMID: 31420335.
• Ferris, Mark, S, Behr, Madeline, R, Cash, Kevin,J. An ionophore-based persistent luminescent ‘Glow Sensor’ for sodium detection. RSC Advances. 2019 October 05; 9:32821-32825.
• Ferris, Mark S., Elms, Makayla K., Cash Kevin J. Enzyme‐conjugated nanosensors with tunable detection limits for small biomolecule determination. AIChE Journal. 2019 June 11; 65:e16698. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.16698
• Ferris MS, Katageri AG, Gohring GM, Cash KJ. A dual-indicator strategy for controlling the response of ionophore-based optical nanosensors. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2018 March; 256:674-681.
• Galyean AA, Behr MR, Cash KJ. Ionophore-based optical nanosensors incorporating hydrophobic carbon dots and a pH-sensitive quencher dye for sodium detection. Analyst. 2018 Jan 21;143(2):458-465. PubMed PMID: 29226289.
• Cash KJ, Li C, Xia J, Wang LV, Clark HA. Optical drug monitoring: photoacoustic imaging of nanosensors to monitor therapeutic lithium in vivo. ACS Nano. 2015 Feb 24;9(2):1692-8. PubMed PMID: 25588028; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4364417.
• Awqatty B, Samaddar S, Cash KJ, Clark HA, Dubach JM. Fluorescent sensors for the basic metabolic panel enable measurement with a smart phone device over the physiological range. Analyst. 2014 Oct 21;139(20):5230-8. PubMed PMID: 25126649.
• Cash, KJ, Clark, HA, “Phosphorescent Nanosensors for in Vivo Tracking of Histamine Levels”, Analytical Chemistry, 2013, 85, 6312-6318.
• Cash, KJ, Clark, HA, “In Vivo Histamine Optical Nanosensors”, Sensors, 2012, 12, 11922-11932, PMCID.
• Cash, KJ, Clark, HA, “Nanosensors and Nanomaterials for Monitoring Glucose in Diabetes”, Trends in Molecular Medicine, 2010, 16, 584-593, PMCID.
• Cash, KJ, Ricci, F, Plaxco, KW, “A General Electrochemical Method for Label-Free Screening of Protein-Small Molecule Interactions”, Chem. Commun. 2009, 6222-6224, PMCID.
• Cash, KJ, Ricci, F, Plaxco, KW, “An Electrochemical Sensor for the Detection of Protein-Small Molecule Interactions Directly in Serum and Other Complex Matrices”, JACS, 2009, 131, 6955-6957, PMCID.
• Cash, KJ, Heeger, AJ, Plaxco, KW, Xiao, Y, “Optimization of a Reusable, DNA Pseudoknot-Based Electrochemical Sensor for Sequence-Specific DNA Detection in Blood Serum”, Analytical Chemistry, 2009, 81, 656-661, PMCID.

Google Scholar Citations Page

Honors & Awards

• 2020 NSF CAREER Award
• 2017 SLAS Tony B. Academic Travel Award
• 2015 National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences
• 2015 SLAS Tony B. Academic Travel Award