CAREER: Creating Materials via Active Self-Assembly Driven by Biomolecular Motors

该职业奖由佛罗里达大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在支持理解组装应变和非平衡结构的关键第一步的研究，这些结构大大扩展了纳米技术的可访问设计空间。该项目的目的是表明，生物分子马达可以极大地扩展自组装的当前边界。具体来说，提出的研究将表明生物分子马达可以：(1)加速自组装；(2)产生非平衡结构；(3)建立装配层次结构；(4)用纳米级积木组装宏观结构；(5)整合合成构件。为此，该项目采用精心设计的实验、理论和计算机模拟相结合的方法来深入了解模型系统的动力学，该模型系统基于功能化微管在马达涂层表面上的滑动和自组装。使用紫杉醇稳定和生物素化的微管作为大小范围从1微米到50微米长度的构建块将被制备。部分覆盖链亲和素的生物素化微管的组装将在酶涂覆和脂质层涂覆的表面上进行，分别比较电机驱动和扩散驱动的组装。该计划的目标是制定管理这些“激活”自组装过程的规则。这些见解将影响纳米结构的合成与分子电子学和自适应材料的应用，也将极大地加深我们对生物分子马达在生物材料组装中的作用的理解。通过剖析分层组装和合成构建块集成的过程，有可能大量独立的转运体结合一套基本的相互作用规则，可以组装比单个转运体大几个数量级的复杂结构。这代表了一种将纳米级构建块快速组装成复杂的纳米和中尺度结构的仿生方法，它将自组装原理与纳米机器控制的分子力的产生结合起来。纳米机器的选择是生物分子马达，它可以有效地将化学能转化为机械能。基于元胞自动机的方法将用于系统的动力学建模，并组装软件包，为基于分子马达的自组装提供通用建模工具。该研究项目跨越了生命科学和工程之间的接口，从生物学和定量方法和工程应用中汲取灵感和材料。为了整合研究与教学，我们提出了两项创新活动：(1)与计算机科学家合作开发一个软件程序，将正在开发的实验中的热运动可视化，这种可视化提供了对纳米世界的改进视图。除了可视化系统之外，该软件还将构建一个游戏，让玩家在一个受热运动冲击的纳米世界中行动；(2)通过国际合作和互动对本科生进行跨学科培训，这将通过佛罗里达大学在德国、瑞士、英国和日本的本科生国际研究经验项目，在PI现有合作的基础上进行扩展。

This Career award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Florida is to support studies in understanding the crucial first steps towards assembling strained and non-equilibrium structures which significantly expand the accessible design space in nanotechnology. The objective of the program is to show that the current boundaries of self-assemblies can be dramatically expanded by biomolecular motors. Specifically, the proposed studies will be shown that biomolecular motors can: (1) accelerate self-assembly; (2) generate non-equilibrium structures; (3) impose an assembly hierarchy; (4) assemble macroscopic structures from nanoscale building blocks; and (5) integrate synthetic building blocks. To this end, the project utilizes a carefully crafted combination of experiments, theory, and computer simulations to generate insights into the dynamics of a model system, which is based on functionalized microtubules gliding and self assembling on kinesin motor-coated surfaces. Using taxol-stabilized and biotinylated microtubules as building blocks ranging in size from 1 micrometer to 50 micrometer in length will be prepared. The assembly of biotinylated microtubules partially covered with streptavidin will be conducted on kinesin-coated and lipid layer-coated surfaces to compare motor-driven and diffusion-driven assemblies respectively. The goal of the program is to formulate the rules governing these "activated" self-assembly processes. These insights will impact the synthesis of nanostructures with applications in molecular electronics and adaptive materials, and will also dramatically further our understanding of the role of biomolecular motors in the assembly of biological materials. By dissecting the processes of hierarchical assembly and the integration of synthetic building blocks, it would be possible that a large number of independent transporters in combination with a basic set of interaction rules can assemble complex structures with sizes orders of magnitude larger than the individual transporter. This represents a biomimetic approach to the rapid assembly of nanoscale building blocks into complex nano- and mesoscale structures, which marries self-assembly principles with the controlled generation of molecular forces by nanomachines. The nanomachines of choice are biomolecular motors, which can efficiently convert chemical energy into mechanical work. A cellular automaton-based approach will be used to model the dynamics of the system, and assemble a software package to provide a general modeling tool for molecular motor-based self-assembly. The research project spans the interface between the life sciences and engineering, drawing inspirations and materials from biology and quantitative approaches and applications from engineering. Two innovative activities are proposed to integrate research and teaching: (1) Development of a software program in collaborative with computer scientists to visualize thermal motion in experiments that are being developed, and this visualization is to provide an improved view into the nanoworld. In addition to visualizing the systems, the software will build a game, which lets the player act in a nanoworld buffeted by thermal motion; and (2) Interdisciplinary training of undergraduate students through international collaborations and interactions, which will be expanded on existing collaborations of the PI through a program for international research experiences for undergraduate students at University of Florida in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain and Japan.