CONTACT
Patrick J. Hrdlicka
875 Perimeter Dr MS 2343
(Renfrew Hall 307)
Moscow, Idaho 83844-2343
USA
Email: hrdlicka@uidaho.edu
News Archive
Update (2017) - This website has only seen minimal updates in the past 18 months as the majority of my time has been devoted to Faculty Senate, a shared governance body at the University of Idaho that I now am Chair of, and many other administrative duties such as co-chairing the Faculty Compensation Task Force. In my "spare time", I teach nucleic acid chemistry and medicinal chemistry, and conduct research. Our group currently encompasses three graduate students. We just published a paper in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry from the Invader project. Oh, and before I forget: I secured promotion to full professor. Thank you to all research students who made that possible. More updates to follow.
Administration (2016) - Dr. Hrdlicka has been elected Vice-Chair of the Faculty Senate.
Teaching (2016) - Dr. Hrdlicka teaches CHEM571 - Introduction to Nucleic Acid Chemistry this fall semester.
Presentations (2016) - Dr. Hrdlicka delivered invited presentations at the Nucleic Acid Center (University of Southern Denmark) and the 2016 Idaho INBRE Research Conference, where visiting undergraduate researcher Macie-Grace Guthrie also presented a poster.
Lab upgrade (2016)- Our biolab is now BSL-2 certified.
Presentation (2016) - Dr. Hrdlicka presented the group's research to the Chemistry Department at the University of Colorado in Denver.
Publication (2016)- Brooke's manuscript entitled "Merging two strategies for mixed-sequence recognition of double-stranded DNA: Pseudocomplementary Invader probes" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Organic Chemistry.
Publication (2016)- Mamta's manuscript on "Discrimination of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using oligonucleotides modified with C5-pyrene-functionalized DNA and flanking Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) monomers" has been accepted for publication in Chemistry - An Asian Journal.
Graduation (2016) - Eric Hall has graduated with a non-thesis MS degree. All the best for the future!
Internal grant (2016) - Dr. Hrdlicka secured funds to purchase a new DNA synthesizer.
Collaborations (2016) - Two collaborative studies, spearheaded by Prof. Stulz (Univ. Southampton) and Prof. Smith (Karolinska University), have been published in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry and Nucleic Acids Research, respectively.
Graduation - Dale C. Guenther has successfully defended her Ph.D.-dissertation and joins Alnylam Pharmaceuticals as a postdoctoral researcher. Congrats on all accounts !!!
Alumni success - Former Ph.D.-student Saswata Karmakar has joined RaNA Therapeutics as a Scientist.
New Ph.D.-student - We welcome Raymond Emehizer to the group !!
Internal grant (2015) - Dr. Hrdlicka has secured a $10,000 grant from the Idaho INBRE program.
Administration (2015) - Dr. Hrdlicka will serve on the University of Idaho, Faculty Senate on a 3-year term as one of two representatives from the College of Science.
New publications (2015) - Brooke, Dale and Mamta have published a series of papers over the summer in Chemical Science, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Chem Comm, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, and a special issue of Molecules.
Presentations (2015) - Dr. Hrdlicka has given invited presentations at Alios Biopharma, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and the NNO Gordon Research Conference.
Student lands scholarship (2015) - Undergraduate researcher Allison Rowley secures an INBRE summer fellowship. Congrats !
Student success in the marketplace (2015) - Group alumni Mamta Kaura, Bharat Baral, and Santosh Kumar have secured jobs with Omicron Biochemicals and Alios BioPharma.
Graduation (2015) - Brooke has defended her Ph.D.-dissertation and has joined Prof. Ram Krishnamurthy's lab at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla. Congratulations.
Graduation (2014) - Mamta has defended her Ph.D.-dissertation. Congratulations.
Presentations (2014) - Dr. Hrdlicka gave presentations on the Invader project at Brigham Young University (main campus), University of Utah, Brigham Young University (Idaho campus) and Idaho State University in November.
Prestigious student award - Dale was selected as the winner of the 2014 Dr. Alan M. Gewirtz Memorial Scholarship presented by the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society. She was presented with the award a couple of weeks ago at the 2014 Annual Meeting in San Diego. In addition to the honor, she received complimentary registration to the annual meeting and a nice fat check. Congrats!
Presentations (2014) - Dr. Hrdlicka presented results at Central Washington Univ., Weber State Univ., Utah State Univ., Utah Valley Univ. and Binghamton Univ. during September/October.
Publication (2014) - Saswata publishes his article "Recognition of double-stranded DNA using energetically activated duplexes with interstrand zippers of 1-, 2- or 4-pyrenyl-functionalized O2'-alkylated RNA monomers" in Org. Biomol. Chem. Congratulations!
Publication (2014) - Alex - Dave McIlroy's Ph.D.-student - and Saswata publish their article on "Self-assembled monolayers of thiols adsorbed on Au/ZnO-functionalized silica nanosprings: Photoelectron spectroscopy-analysis and detection of vaporized explosives" in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Well done!
Funding (2014) - Dr. Hrdlicka secures funding from the Idaho State Board of Education for the acquisition of an inverted fluorescence microscope that will support development of diagnostic kits based on the group's Invader technology.
Invited presentation (2014) - Dr. Hrdlicka presented results at the 248th ACS National meeting in San Francisco.
Group members tie the knot - Group members Eric Hall and Shannon Mecham tied the knot in the last weekend of July. My warmfelt congratulations :)
Invited presentations (2014) - Dr. Hrdlicka presented results at the 69th ACS NORM meeting (Missoula, MT) and the Nucleic Acid Summit (San Diego, CA). Dale's abstract was one of the only student abstracts selected for an oral presentation at the NAS. Good job!
Publication (2014) - Dale publishes her article "C5-Amino acid functionalized LNA: Positively poised for antisense applications" in Chem. Comm. Check out the interesting properties of these monomers.
Publication (2014) - Mamta lands her second first-author article of the year: "Synthesis, hybridization characteristics and fluorescence properties of oligonucleotides modified with nucleobase-functionalized LNA (Locked Nucleic Acid) adenosine and cytidine monomers" in J. Org. Chem. Keep 'em coming!
Publication (2014) - Mamta publishes our first Org. Lett: "Carbohydrate-functionalized Locked Nucleic Acids (LNAs): Oligonucleotides with extraordinary binding affinity, target specificity and enzymatic stability".
Back-to-back publications (2014) - Former visiting Ph.D.-student Pawan Kumar publishes back-to-back papers in J. Org. Chem. on the synthesis and properties of C5-functionalized LNA. I am sorry it took me so long to get to them !
Student award (2014) - Brooke received the departmental Cooley-Juve award, which is given to an outstanding teaching assistant. Well done Brooke!
Student award (2013) - Dale was presented with the departmental Larry L. Nash award for dedication, support, hard work and friendship. Congrats, Dale !
Publication (2013) - Friend of the group, Nicolai Andersen, and Ph.D.-student Brooke Anderson publish their article outlining the challenging synthesis of functionalized 2'-amino-alpha-L-LNA adenine monomers. Good work, guys!
Presentations (2013) - Dr. Hrdlicka gave an overview of the group's activities at the University of Montana, Eastern Washington University and Eastern Oregon University shortly before Thanksgiving.
Publication (2013) - Saswata publishes an article in The Journal of Organic Chemistry, describing guidelines for the design of efficient DNA-targeting Invader probes.
Publication (2013) - Our manuscript entitled "Identification and Characterization of Second-Generation Invader Locked Nucleic Acids (LNAs) for Mixed-Sequence Recognition of Double-Stranded DNA", has been published in The Journal of Organic Chemistry as a Featured Article.
Alumni success (2013) - Dale and Dr. Hrdlicka have written this little piece for The Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society about a recent study from industry leader Isis Pharmaceuticals. The lead author on that study, Michael Østergaard, was the first Ph.D.-student to graduate from the Hrdlicka lab.
Funding (2013) - Dr. Hrdlicka receives another 1-yr grant from the Idaho State Board of Education for the development of diagnostic kits that are based on our proprietary Invader Technology.
Award (2013) - Dr. Hrdlicka receives the Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award from the University of Idaho.
New laboratory (2013) - Our BSL1-level laboratory, which is fully equipped for mammalian cell culture studies and molecular biological experiments, is open for business! Thank you to Prof. Larry Branen (Univ. Idaho) for a very genrous equipment donation, and to Dale Guenther for handling set-up and paperwork.
Publication (2013) - Our manuscript entitled "Sandwich assay for mixed-sequence recognition of double-stranded DNA: Invader-based detection of targets specific to foodborne pathogens", has been published in Chem. Commun.
Publication (2013) - Our manuscript entitled "Invaders: Recognition of Double-Stranded DNA using Duplexes Modified with Interstrand Zippers of 2'-O-(Pyren-1-yl)methylribonucleotides", has been published in ChemBioChem. In this proof-of-concept paper, we demonstrate that Invaders enable mixed-sequence recognition of DNA hairpins in cell free assays, and of chromosomal DNA under non-denaturing conditions.
Guest Editor (2013) - Dr. Hrdlicka serves as the guest editor on the special issue of Chemosensors entitled "Nucleic Acid Probes".
Publication (2013) - Saswata's article entitled "DNA Strands with Alternating Incorporations of LNA and 2'-O-(pyren-1-yl)methyluridine: SNP-discriminating RNA Detection Probes", has been published in Chemical Science.
Student news (2013) - Saswata will be joining Prof. Eric Kool's lab at Stanford as a postdoctoral fellow upon completion of his studies. Congrats !
Student news (2013) - Undergraduate researchers Max Cowan and Phil Vukelich have joined the group - welcome !!!
Publication (2012) - Mamta's article entitled "Synthesis and hybridization properties of oligonucleotides modified with 5-(1-aryl-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)-2′-deoxyuridines", has been published in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry as a 'hot communication'.
Funding (2012) - Dr. Hrdlicka has received a 1-yr grant from the Idaho State Board of Education for the development of diagnostic kits that are based on our proprietary Invader Technology.
Award (2012) - Dr. Hrdlicka receives the President’s inaugural Mid-career Faculty Award from the University of Idaho.
Publication (2012) - Sujay's paper entitled "C2'-Pyrene-functionalized triazole-linked DNA: Universal DNA/RNA hybridization probes", has been published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry as a Cover Article.
Publication (2012) - Our review on "Fluorophore-functionalized Locked Nucleic Acids (LNAs)" has been published in the volume "DNA Conjugates and Sensors", RSC Biomolecular Science Series.
Publication (2012) - Sujay's article entitled "“Fluorescent Intercalator Displacement Replacement (FIDR) Assay: Determination of Relative Thermodynamic and Kinetic Parameters in Triplex Formation - A Case Study using Triplex-forming LNAs”, has been published in Nucleic Acids Research.
Publication (2012) - Shiva's article entitled "DNA detection on lateral flow test strips: enhanced signal sensitivity using LNA-conjugated gold nanoparticles", has been published in Chemical Communications.
Poster award (2012) - Visiting undergraduate researcher, Grace H. Anderson and her co-workers, receive third place in the poster competition at the Idaho INBRE Research Conference. Congrats !
Student success (2012) - Saswata Karmakar passed his proposal defense.
Presentation (2012) - Dr. Hrdlicka gave an invited presentation at the 2012 ACS NORM meeting in Boise.
Student success (2012) - Brooke Anderson received a grant from the Student Grants Program. Well done !
ACS Meeting (2012) - Dr. Hrdlicka contributed two presentations at the 2012 Spring ACS Meeting in San Diego.
Presentation (2012) - Dr. Hrdlicka gave an invited presentation at the RNA Institute (SUNY Albany).
Publication (2012) - Guankui's paper entitled: Gold-peptide nanoconjugate cellular uptake is modulated by serum proteins, has been accepted for publication in Nanomedicine NBM. Congrats Guankui !
Student success (2012) - Dale Guenther has passed her cumulative exams after seven of eight exams. Congratulations !
Student success (2012) - Brooke Anderson and Mamta Kaura have passed their proposal defense - congrats.
Graduation (2012) - Sujay P. Sau has fulfilled the requirements toward a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry. He is the second Ph.D-candidate from the Hrdlicka group to graduate. Congrats !
Presentations (2011) - Dr. Hrdlicka gave invited presentations at Carnegie Mellon University and University of Aarhus.
Three former team members enjoy success in the marketplace (2011) - Former postdoctoral fellow, VVR Sai, has been appointed Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras. Former graduate student, Bharat Baral is now Development Associate II at Geron. Finally, former visiting PhD-student, Santhosh Kumar, has secured a job with ChemGenes. Well done guys!
Publication (2011) - Saswata's paper entitled: High-affinity DNA-targeting using Readily Accessible Mimics of N2’-Functionalized 2’-Amino-α-L-LNA, has been published in the Journal of Organic Chesmitry.
Publication (2011) - Our review on pyrene-functionalized oligonucleotides and LNAs has been published in Chemical Society Reviews.
Presentation (2011) - Dr. Hrdlicka gave invited presentations at the Nucleic Acid Center (Univ. Southern Denmark) and the University of Copenhagen.
Publication (2011) - Our synthetic protocol on C5-functionalized LNA has been published in Current Protocols of Nucleic Acid Chemistry.
Publication (2011) - Our article describing optimized discrimination of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using C5-functionalized LNA has been published in Chemistry European Journal.
Publication (2011) - Our study on Au- and Ag-nanoparticle coated silica nanosprings as SERS-active materials has been published in Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
Adjunct faculty (2011) - Dr. Hrdlicka has joined the Department of Chemistry at Washington State University as an adjuct faculty.
Early Promotion and Tenure (2011) - Dr. Hrdlicka's application for early tenure and promotion to Associate professor has been accepted.
Student success (2011) - Sujay Sau secured another grant (3k$) from UI's Student Grant Program. Well done !
Student success (2011) - Saswata Karmakar has passed the cumulative exams after seven of eight exams. Congratulations !
Proposal Defense (2011) - Sujay P Sau has passed his proposal defense - congrats.
Group picture (2010)
Graduation (2010) - Michael E. Østergaard has fulfilled the requirements toward a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry. He is the first Ph.D-candidate from the Hrdlicka group to graduate. Congrats !
Publication (2010) - Our articles on the optimization of Glowing LNA and their use in mRNA imaging, have been published in JACS and Bioorganc Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
Publication (2010) - A collaborative research article with the Nucleic Acid Center (NAC) on enzymatic incorporation of C5-functionalized LNA uridine triphosphates has been published in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
Award (2010) - Dr. Hrdlicka received the Univ. Idaho, College of Science, Early Career Faculty Award.
DoD Funding (2010) - David McIlroy (Dept. Physics), Vladimir Dobrokhotov (W. Kentucky Univ.) and Dr. Hrdlicka have secured a three-year grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) to develop functionalized silica nanosprings for detection of explosives.
INBRE-ITHS Funding (2010) - Deb Stenkamp (Dept. Bio. Sciences), Maureen Neitz (Univ. Washington) and Dr. Hrdlicka have secured a one-year grant from INBRE-ITHS to explore gene knockdown in zebrafish.
Publication (2010) - Our article describing the use of pyrene-functionalized triazole-linked 2'-deoxyuridines for efficient discrimination of single nucleotide polymorphisms has been published in Chemmical Communications.
Poster Award (2010) - Mason Frederickson has won poster awards at the 6th Annual College of Science Student Expo at UI and at the Pacific Northwest Undergraduate Research Symposium on Organic Chemistry & Chemical Biology.
Teaching Spring (2010) - CHEM372 students, on average, scored in the 79th national percentile on the ACS Standardized Organic Chemistry Exam. Outstanding performance, students - congratulations !
Graduation - Bharat Baral has fulfilled all requirements toward a M.S. degree in Chemistry. Congrats !
Student Awards - Saswata Karmakar and Sujay Sau have received financial support from the Student Grant Program, while Mason Frederickson has received a scholarship from Idaho INBRE. Congratulations !
ACS Meeting NORM (2010) - Dr. Hrdlicka co-chaired the Medicinal Chemistry session at the ACS NORM/RMRM Meeting held in Pullman, June 20-23.
Publication (2010) - Our article describing the use of Invader LNA to target isosequential double stranded DNA has been published in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry.
NIH EUREKA R01 Funding (2009) - Dr. Hrdlicka and Dr. Madhusudhan R. Papasani and Prof. Rod A. Hill (both Animal and Veterinary Science) have secured a three-year R01 award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) EUREKA (Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) program to study novel gene knockdown agents termed Invader LNAs. A press release can be found here.
Publication (2009) - Our manuscript outlining the use of C5-functionalized LNAs for efficient RNA targeting has been published in ChemBioChem.
Student news - Brooke A. Anderson and Mamta Kaura have passed their cumulative exams. Congratulations!
Publication (2009) - Our manuscript outlining novel functionalized LNA as efficient DNA-binders using the triplex approach has been published in Chemical Communications.
Scholarship - Undergraduate researcher Mason Frederickson has received financial support from the Hill Research Foundation. Congratulations !
Poster Award - Michael E Østergaard and coworkers, won the poster award in the Graduate Student category at the Donald S. Matteson symposium held at WSU early October 2009. Congrats !
Publication (2009) - Our manuscript describing the use of intercalator-functionalized LNA for DNA targeting has been published in Journal of Organic Chemistry.
Publication (2009) - Our manucript describing a novel synthetic methodology to facilitate selective deacylations of peracylated ribonucleosides has been published in Tetrahedron Letters.
Publication (2009) - Our manuscript describing a concise synthetic route to isotopically labeled ribonucleosides has been published in Tetrahedron Letters.
Publication (2009) - A review on "1-Dimensional Silica Structures and Their Applications to the Biological Sciences" was prepared jointly by the BANTech team and has been published in “Nanomaterials for the Life Sciences, Nanostructured Oxides” (Wiley 2009).
Publication (2009) - A manuscript outlining the development of PNA-based biosensors has been published in Analytical Letters. This effort was spearheaded by the Maki group at the Univ. Idaho Research Park in Post Falls.
Publication (2009) - Our manuscript describing recognition of RNA strands in parallel orientation using beta-L-LNA has been published in Bioorganic Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
2xStudent support- Brooke Anderson and Sujay Sau have received financial support from the Student Grant Program.
Student award - Michael E. Østergaard's UI COGS Doctoral Scholarship has been extended by another year.
Publication - Our manuscript outlining an optimized synthesis of LNA uridine nucleosides has been published in Tetrahedron Letters 2008, 7168-7170.
Funding - PJH has received funding from the Initiative for Bioinformatics & Evolutionary Studies (IBEST) to develop probes for targeting of dsDNA.
Funding - PJH was awarded his second UI Seed Grant - this time to conduct studies on biosensors using functionalized nucleic acids.
Publication - Our manuscript highlighting our use of N2’-functionalized 2’-amino-a-L-LNA for structural engineering applications has been published in Journal of Organic Chemistry.
3xStudent Awards - Michael E. Østergaard, Dale Guenther and Thao T. Vo have received the Nash, Hill and Cooley-Juve awards, respectively - congratulations
2xSupport - Dale Guenther, undergraduate researcher in our team, has been awarded an INBRE scholarship, and has received financial support from the Student Grant Program.
Student award - Michael E. Østergaard, has been awarded the UI COGS Doctoral Scholarship to conduct studies on biosensors.
Publication - A NAC-driven multi-author manuscript on ‘Chemically Modified Oligonucleotides with Retained RNaseH Response’ has been published in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2008, 2296-2300.
Congratulation - Todd D. Pankratz has completed his master degree (non-Thesis MS).
2xSupport - Michael E. Østergaard and Brooke Anderson have received financial support from the Student Grant Program and a Hill Research Foundation, respectively.
Student award - Brooke Andersen, undergraduate researcher in our team, has been awarded the 2008 Senator Larry E. Craig Endowment Scholarship to participate in the 2008 ACS Spring meeting.
Presentations - PJH presented “N2’-Functionalized 2’-Amino-a-L-LNA: A Novel Class of Locked Nucleic Acids as Emerging Tools for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics and Diagnostics” at the 2008 Spring American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans, USA. Furthermore, Michael E. Østergaard presented a poster on our recent results on functionalized LNAs as versatile diagnostic tools.
4xPublications - Research papers outlining our recent collaborative efforts with Prof. Wengels group at the Nucleic Acid Center, have recently been published in Nucleosides Nucleotides Nucleic Acids 2007, 26, 1261/1403/1407/1415.
2xFunding - Idaho NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) will support our project on labeled nucleic acids. Funding was also granted to purchase a Karl-Fisher Titrator to determine water level in solvents.
Publication - The manuscript ““Pyrenylmethyl 2’-Amino-LNA for Sensitive SNP Genotyping in a Homogenous Fluorescence Dual-Probe Assay”, by T. Umemoto, P. J. Hrdlicka, B. R. Babu and J. Wengel has been published in ChemBioChem 2007, 8, 2240-2248.
Funding - PJH was awarded a UI Seed Grant to conduct studies on novel functionalized nucleic acid probes for targeting of dsDNA.
Publication - The manuscript “2’-N-(Pyren-1-yl)acetyl-2’-Amino-a-L-LNA: Synthesis and Detection of Single Nucleotide Mismatches in DNA and RNA Targets” by T. S. Kumar , J. Wengel and P. J. Hrdlicka has been published in ChemBioChem 2007, 8, 1122-1125.
Presentation - PJH gave an invited presentation at the Nucleic Acid Center, University of Southern Denmark.
Presentation - PJH gave a presentation at the Gordon Research Conference - Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Oligonucleotides.
Presentation - PJH gave an invited presentation on “Ångström-scale Chemical Engineering of Nucleic Acids – Enabling Biomaterials for Diagnostics and Therapeutics” at the AAAS Pacific Division/ACS Northwest Region meeting.
Support - We graciously acknowledge the BANTech center for supporting Michael E. Østergaard (Ph.D.-stud) on a Research Assistantship.
Support - Johanna Root and Joanna Hawryluk who stayed 8 weeks in our lab enjoyed support from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense (ASSURE Program) via the Neuroscience Program. In addition - UI undergrad Michael Chavez received support from NSF EPSCoR Idaho for a 10 week scholarship.
Support - Todd Pankratz (M.S.-stud) was awarded $1.500 from the Student Grant Program to support his project on intercalator-modified nucleic acids.