M. Eugenio Vazquez
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glowsticks.bsky.social
M. Eugenio Vazquez
@glowsticks.bsky.social
Peptide engineering, supramolecular chemistry, DNA binding, caged molecules, luminescent sensors & chemistry art. "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."

ORCID: 0000-0001-7500-985X
http://www.chembiousc.gal
Skip the fume hood, get brain damage and Nazi vibes. #ChemSky 🤯

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
September 4, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Fantastic!! Beautiful! It reminds me the work of Radivoj V. Krstić.
August 26, 2025 at 10:58 AM
A fantastic liquid handling system for your next grant proposal. 😀
#ChemSky
August 11, 2025 at 9:33 AM
From the Killing Eve episode "Management sucks" 😀
July 15, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Yves Klein would have loved your Si rhodamine 😉
July 10, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Huge thanks to Carmen González-González @ciqus.bsky.social‬, who worked tirelessly during her PhD to make sense of all this, and to our awesome collaborators at @UnivAveiro (Manuel Melle-Franco), and @UGR (Ángel Orte and Juan A. González-Vera).
June 9, 2025 at 3:39 PM
We also had a great cover proposal for the journal but, sadly, they went with a different one, so I get to share our vision with you. #sciart #scicomm #science #chemistry #outreach
June 9, 2025 at 3:39 PM
We even used these peptides as antennas to sensitize Tb(III) and Eu(III) luminescence, demonstrating that these systems can engage in energy transfer processes, just like regular fluorophores, and extending their use to bioimaging and tagging applications.
June 9, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In a striking departure from long-held assumptions in protein photophysics, we observed luminescence in solution (λₑₓ = 320 nm, λₑₘ ≈ 420 nm) in single α-helical peptides with only Lys/Arg and Glu residues, and *no aromatic amino acids* in their sequence 🤔
June 9, 2025 at 3:39 PM
The screening is _very_ simple: soak the SPOT slide in PdCl₂(COD), wash thoroughly, add a fluorogenic substrate, and look for fluorescent spots to identify the peptide sequences catalyzing depropargylation. #ChemSky
May 8, 2025 at 8:29 AM
First introduced in 1992, SPOT libraries are widely used in biology but oddly overlooked in catalysis. In our paper, we show they can help identify β-hairpin Pd(II) metallopeptide catalysts that perform a depropargylation reaction. #ChemSky
May 8, 2025 at 8:29 AM
We’ve recently shown that proteins with no aromatic residues can be fluorescent 💡 Join us to explore this paradigm-shifting phenomenon—Non-Aromatic Fluorescence (NAF)—and help build the next generation of optical imaging tools. 🔬🧬🔖
May 6, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Playa de Carnota en 10 años…
April 8, 2025 at 6:08 AM
I came to recommend that one too 😀 and also “Ship os Theseus”
March 15, 2025 at 10:55 AM
March 12, 2025 at 7:36 AM
if you see this post, quote with a bridge from your gallery
The Devil's Bridge over the Deza River.
January 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Using positionally addressable SPOT libraries in combination with a fluorogenic substrate, we rapidly identified β-hairpin palladopeptides that catalyze an intracellular depropargylation This greatly simplifies the screening process and opens new doors for bioorthogonal catalyst ☺️
#ChemSky
January 21, 2025 at 6:37 AM
🚀 We are excited to share our latest preprint on ChemRxiv that describes a simple approach using SPOT libraries to quickly identify metallopeptides for intracellular catalysis. #ChemSky

chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
January 21, 2025 at 6:37 AM
We just updated our preprint on non-aromatic fluorescent peptides and demonstrate that they can be used to sensitize the luminescence of Tb(III) and Eu(III) ions #ChemSky

chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
January 20, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Check out the mechanical beauty of the Bugatti Tourbillon. Not a single screen (for just over 4 million) 😥
January 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Why did it take us 10 years to publish this? Long story short, it all went south when the students who started the project left the lab before completing the experimental work; the next student... let's just say we didn't make much progress. Then came COVID, then we had to start all over again...
December 9, 2024 at 7:59 PM
We show that the dimeric bisbenzamidine exhibits much higher DNA binding affinity than the monomer, recognizing composite sites with two adjacent AAATTT sequences. NMR experiments, complemented by molecular dynamics, offer structural insights into the compound’s insertion into the DNA minor groove.
December 9, 2024 at 7:59 PM
Just one example of Irving Geis's genius. See how he drew the hydrogen bonds in the 310 helic bent, not straight like in the alpha helix? Well, it turns out that the carbonyl groups in the 310 helix are tilted off the axis, so the geometry of their hydrogen bonds is far from ideal.
November 30, 2024 at 9:54 PM
Just another example of Irving Geis' masterful work in this book
November 29, 2024 at 11:23 AM
... but using old sources has some drawbacks. For example, their wonderful Ramachandran diagram—have you ever seen one more beautiful?—does not match the modern notation for Φ/Ψ! so the discussion on the canonical angles for the secondary structures is all messed up 😵‍💫
November 29, 2024 at 9:18 AM