Virus-based 3D Metallodielectric Materials

该奖项由印第安纳州大学材料研究部的生物材料项目授予，旨在研究金属介电光学超材料，该材料由具有亚波长晶格周期的介电基质中的光学谐振金属夹杂物组成，使用病毒状颗粒。超材料具有由其组织结构决定的光学（或更一般的电磁）特性，而不是直接从单个子单元的材料特性继承。金属介电超材料是由介电基质中的光学谐振金属夹杂物组成的，具有亚波长的晶格周期。由于其设计的自由度和新的性能的承诺，目前，金属氧化物的光学响应进行了深入的研究。然而，对于在电磁光谱的可见光范围内有用的金属电介质超材料，它们需要具有晶格常数在10和100 nm之间的扩展三维（3D）结构，这难以用当前技术合成。这个问题的解决方案提出，这是基于光学超材料的生物途径。新的3D超材料的构建块将是一种病毒样颗粒，它是一种混合结构，由封装光学活性纳米颗粒的对称蛋白质笼组成。由于它们的表面规则性，预期病毒样颗粒容易组织成三维晶体。对称性和晶格参数将使用不同的粒子核和工程蛋白质壳而变化。 将与莱斯大学合作研究理论方法，以比较不同现象对实验光学响应的作用。金属电介质超材料的预期应用包括更好的透镜、奇特的涂层、新型激光器和超越衍射极限的光子技术的小型化。该项目将为参与的学生提供一个真正的多学科环境，预计该项目将吸引各种各样的学生。这些学生将与实验物理化学家，理论物理学家和具有互补技能的病毒学家团队合作。除了这些超材料的光学应用之外，病毒样颗粒还具有以下潜在的生物医学用途：a）自主的、非侵入性的胞内和胞间载体和功能成像探针; B）用于模板化生物自组装的实验模型，其中可以通过核表面的功能化来控制尺寸、稳定性和组装动力学;和c）改进的抗病毒疫苗，其具有与天然病毒相同的表位表面，但缺乏任何遗传物质。

This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to Indiana University is to study metallodielectric optical metamaterials composed of optically-resonant metal inclusions in a dielectric matrix having sub wavelength lattice periods using virus-like particles. Metamaterials have optical (or more general, electromagnetic) properties determined by their organized structure rather than inherited directly from the material properties of individual subunits. Metallodielectric metamaterials are composed of optically resonant metal inclusions in a dielectric matrix and have sub wavelength lattice periods. Because of their freedom of design and promise for novel properties, at present, the optical response of metallodielectrics is intensely studied. However, for metallodielectric metamaterials to be useful in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum, they require extended three-dimensional (3D) structures with lattice constants between 10 and 100 nm, which are difficult to synthesize with current technologies. A solution to this problem is proposed and this is based on a biological pathway to optical metamaterials. The building block for the new 3D metamaterial will be a virus-like particle, which is a hybrid construct composed of a symmetric protein cage encapsulating an optically active nanoparticle. Because of their surface regularity, virus-like particles are expected to organize readily into three-dimensional crystals. The symmetry and the lattice parameters will be varied using different particle cores and engineered protein shells. Theoretical approaches in collaboration with Rice University will be studied to compare the roles of different phenomena contributing to the experimental optical responses. The predicted applications metallodielectric metamaterials include better lenses, exotic coatings, new lasers, and miniaturization of photonic technologies beyond the diffraction limit.The project will provide a truly multidisciplinary environment for the students involved and the project is expected to appeal a broad variety of students. These students will be working with a team of experimental physical chemists, theoretical physicists, and virologists with complementary skills. Besides the optical applications of these metamaterials, the virus-like particles have following potential biomedical uses: a) autonomous, non-intrusive inter- and intracellular vectors and functional imaging probes; b) experimental models for templated biological self-assembly in which the size, stability, and assembly kinetics can be controlled via functionalization of the core surface; and c) improved antiviral vaccines that have the same epitope surface as the native virus, but lack any genetic material.