Morphological Study of Aqueous Processing of Biopolymers

9624306 GIDO提出了一项综合职业发展计划，其中包括研究和教育方面的重要组成部分。该计划的主要内容是：(1)建设研究生研究团队；(2)组装实验室设施和设备；(3)发展国家和国际公认的研究计划；(4)发展研究生研究培训以及研究生和本科生课堂作业的教育计划。这个职业发展计划的研究部分是跨学科的，从这个意义上说，研究系统是自然的或生物的，但这个系统中主要感兴趣的方面属于聚合物科学和材料科学领域。有人提议研究蚕虫和蜘蛛中的天然蚕丝纺丝过程，以便这些令人难以置信的高效过程可以被用作基因工程生物聚合物的水处理的模型。这项研究将主要采用电子显微镜、电子衍射、能量色散X射线能谱(EDS)和电子能量损失像滤波(GaTan成像滤光片)对低温制备的样品进行处理。利用这些技术，结构将与丝素水溶液中的蛋白质浓度和丝腺中自然存在的各种盐的浓度相关，并被认为影响链构象和相行为。这份职业助学金的教育部分包括对高中生和教师的外展、暑期项目和实地考察。这项研究的结果将被纳入课堂教学，以说明聚合物形态、结晶学、电子显微镜等的一般原理。课堂上讨论的技术是聚合物科学和材料科学的一般技术。***

9624306 Gido An integrated career development plan is proposed which includes strong components in both research and education. The major components of this plan are: (1) to build a research group of graduate students; (2) to assemble laboratory facilities and equipment; (3) to develop a nationally and internationally recognized research program; (4) to develop educational programs in graduate research training as well as class work for graduate and undergraduate students. The research component of this career development plan is interdisciplinary in the sense that the system of study is natural or biological in origin, but the aspects of this system that are of primary interest fall into the realm of polymer science and materials science. It is proposed to investigate natural silk spinning processes in silk worms and spiders so that these incredibly efficient processes may to be used as models for aqueous processing of genetically engineered biopolymers. The techniques employed in this research will be mainly electron microscopy, electron diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and electron energy loss image filtering (Gatan Imaging Filter) on cryogenically prepared samples. Using these techniques, structure will be corrolated with protein concentration in the aqueous silk solution and the concentration of various salts which are naturally present in the silk gland, and are thought to influence chain conformation and phase behavior. %%% The educational component of this CAREER grant involves outreach to high-school students and teachers, summer programs, and field trips. Results from this research will be incorporated into classroom teaching in order to illustrate general principles of polymer morphology, crystallography, electron microscopy, etc. The techniques discussed in classes are general techniques of polymer science and materials science. ***