Virus-based 3D Metallodielectric Materials

该奖项由印第安纳大学材料研究部的生物材料计划颁发，旨在研究金属介电光学超材料，该超材料由具有亚波长晶格周期的介电基质中的光学共振金属夹杂物组成，使用病毒样颗粒。超材料的光学(或更一般的，电磁)特性由其组织结构决定，而不是直接从单个亚单位的材料特性继承。金属介电超材料是由介电基质中的光学共振金属夹杂物组成的，具有亚波长晶格周期。由于它们具有自由的设计和新颖的性质，目前，金属电介质的光学响应受到了广泛的关注。然而，要使金属介电超材料在电磁光谱的可见光范围内有用，它们需要具有晶格常数在10到100 nm之间的扩展三维(3D)结构，这是目前技术难以合成的。提出了一种解决这一问题的方法，这是基于光学超材料的生物途径。这种新的3D超材料的基础将是一种类似病毒的颗粒，这是一种由包裹着光学活性纳米颗粒的对称蛋白质笼子组成的混合结构。由于其表面的规律性，病毒样颗粒有望很容易地组织成三维晶体。对称性和晶格参数将使用不同的粒子核和工程蛋白质壳来改变。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。预计金属介电超材料的应用包括更好的透镜、奇异的涂层、新的激光以及超衍射极限的光子技术的微型化。该项目将为参与的学生提供一个真正的多学科环境，该项目预计将吸引更多不同的学生。这些学生将与具有互补技能的实验物理化学家、理论物理学家和病毒学家组成的团队一起工作。除了这些超材料的光学应用外，类病毒颗粒还具有下列潜在的生物医学用途：a)自主的、非侵入性的细胞内和细胞内载体和功能成像探针；b)模板化生物自组装的实验模型，其中的大小、稳定性和组装动力学可以通过核心表面的功能化来控制；c)改进的抗病毒疫苗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.