Protein Crystals: New Templates for the Construction of Nanostructured Solids

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Divisions of Chemistry, Materials Research, Bioengineering and Environmental Systems, and Molecular and Cellular Biosciences support this multidivisional award to William Marsh Rice University. This Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) proposal was submitted in response to the solicitation "Nanoscale Science and Engineering" (NSF 00-119). Under this project, Vicki Colvin, a material chemist with experience in template chemistry, Daniel Mittleman, an optical engineer and George Phillips, a biologist with expertise in protein crystal growth, will develop crystalline and monolithic nanostructured metal and ceramic materials using crystals of streptavidin, lysozyme and related proteins. These protein crystalline structures will be reinforced by glutaraldehyde cross-linking before the templating. X-ray diffraction studies and atomic force microscope imaging will be used to characterize the prepared materials with respect to crystal symmetry, periodicity and overall quality of the crystal arrangement. These porous and three-dimensional open crystalline inorganic structures with nanometer spacing may find applications in diffraction gradients, lenses, mirrors and other devices for soft X-ray optics. The research program will also provide a rich multidisciplinary education and training opportunities in material and protein chemistries to postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students.Under the award, ordered mesoporous nanostructured metal and ceramic materials will be fabricated using cross-linked protein crystals as sacrificial templates. The broader impact of the project is the understanding the formation of nanostructures, the templating effect of different protein crystal scaffolding, and the determination of optical properties of the mesoporous structures prepared in the soft X-ray range of the spectrum. In addition, the research program will provide a rich multidisciplinary education and training opportunities in materials chemistry, protein chemistry and optics to graduate and undergraduate students.