Abstract: We proposed and developed a series of fluorescent methods of analysis and investigation of system potentially important in biotechnology and biomedicine. Three new types of molecular probes have been used: 1) dual fluorophore-nitroxide compounds, 2) fluorescent-photochrome molecules and 3) super molecules containing fluorescent and fluorescent quenching segments. These methods utilize the following photochemical and photophysica phenomena: the fluorescence quenching, photochrome photoisomerization and energy transfer. The fluorescence properties of the new probes was intensively exploited as the basis of several methodologies which include a real time analysis of antioxidants, nitric oxide, superoxide, reactive radicals, trinitrotoluene and metal ions, investigation of molecular dynamics of biomembranes in a wide range characteristic times, detection of protein conformational transition, and characterization of surface system. Owning high sensitivity, simplicity, availability of fluorescence techniques, these methods can be widely employed. The techniques can be adapted to fibrooptic sensoring.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Gertz I. Likhtenshtein received his PhD (1963) and Doctor of Science (1972) degrees at the Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian academy of Science, Moscow. In 1976 this Institute granted him the Professor title. In 1965 he was appointed on the position of Head of Laboratory of Chemical Physics of Enzyme Catalysis. In 1992 Likhtenshtein moved to the Department of Chemistry, the Ben-Gurion University of Negev (Israel) on the full Professor position, was in charge of the Laboratory of Chemical Biophysics and has been emerited in 2003. Among his awards are the Medal of the Exhibition of Economic Achievement, the Diploma of Discovery USSR for works on nitrogen fixation , the USSR State Price for pioneering research on spin labeling in molecular biology, the V. V. Voevodsky International Price for Chemical Physics and the Diploma of the Israel Chemical Society. He is a member of the International ESR Society, the American Biophysical Society, the Israel Chemical Society and the Israel ESR Society. At present his main scientific interests focus on mechanism of the light energy conversion and on novel methods of immunoassay, NO and antioxidants analysis. Likhtenshtein authored 10 scientific books and about 380 papers.