NIRT: Probing Viral Adhesion with Nanoengineered Biomembranes and Quantum Dots

这个纳米级跨学科研究团队（NIRT）奖给加州戴维斯大学是由化学部（MPS），生物基础设施（BIO）和国际办公室（SBE）的支持，这一建议是在响应招标“纳米科学与工程”（NSF 01-157）提交。 有了这个奖项，Gervay-Hague教授和她的团队将研究通过病毒蛋白与细胞配体结合介导的病毒粘附和感染。 在许多情况下，配体以多聚体形式存在，这引起与病毒蛋白的多价相互作用，并且对这些多价相互作用的分子基础了解得少得多。纳米技术和生物成像光谱学将用于在分子水平上系统地研究蛋白质-配体相互作用。 使用纳米纤维，脂质双层工程和纳米颗粒功能化的组合，精心设计的配体阵列和局部生物环境将被构建。 将研究这些分子结构的蛋白质识别，以确定结合强度、化学计量、协同性和粘附动力学，从而了解病毒粘附于宿主细胞的机制。 从这些研究中获得的知识对于环境中病毒的检测和灭活具有更大的应用。 此外，在化学，纳米技术和生物学的接口这些研究将为学生提供在许多跨学科领域的研究和培训的机会。有了这个奖项，一个在有机，无机和分析化学以及化学工程和免疫学方面具有专业知识的研究科学家团队将研究病毒粘附到宿主细胞的机制。 这些粘附相互作用具有纳米尺寸，并且有可能调节病毒粘附到已经被工程化以模拟宿主细胞的天然状态的表面。 将病毒蛋白引入这些纳米平台并使用显微镜和光谱学监测结合过程将有助于阐明病毒粘附到表面的机制，这可能最终导致检测和灭活环境中病毒的新策略。 学生，博士后同事和同事将大大受益于这种多学科的方法来解决问题的纳米生物系统领域。

This Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) award to University of California Davis is supported by Divisions of Chemistry (MPS), Biological Infrastructure (BIO) and International Office (SBE), and this proposal was submitted in response to the solicitation "Nanoscale Science and Engineering" (NSF 01-157). With this award, Professor Gervay-Hague and her team will study viral adhesion and infection that are mediated through the binding of viral proteins to cellular ligands. In many cases, the ligands are presented in a multimeric form, which gives rise to polyvalent interactions with viral proteins, and much less is understood about the molecular basis these polyvalent interactions. Nanotechnology and bioimaging spectroscopies will be used to study protein-ligand interactions systematically at a molecular level with this award. Using a combination of nanofabrication, lipid bilayer engineering and nanoparticle functionalization, carefully designed ligand arrays and local bio-environments will be constructed. Protein recognition of these molecular architectures will be investigated to determine the binding strength, stoichiometry, cooperativity, and kinetics of adhesion to develop an understanding of the mechanism of viral adhesion to host-cells. A knowledge developed from these studies has larger applications toward the detection and deactivation of viruses in the environment. In addition, these studies at the interface of chemistry, nanotechnology and biology will provide students with opportunities in research and training in many interdisciplinary fields. With this award, a team of research scientists with expertise in organic, inorganic, and analytical chemistry, as well as chemical engineering and immunology will study the mechanism of viral adhesion to host-cells. These adhesion interactions have the dimensions of nanometers and it may be possible to regulate viral adhesion to surfaces that have been engineered to mimic the native state of host cells. Introduction of viral proteins to these nanoplatforms and monitoring of the binding process using microscopy and spectroscopy will help elucidate the mechanism of viral adhesion to surfaces, which may ultimately lead to novel strategies for detecting and deactivating viruses in the environment. Students, postdoctoral associates, and co-workers will greatly benefit from this multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving in the area of nanoscale biosystems.