CAREER: Bio-Membrane Mediated Colloidal Assembly

俄勒冈大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发的这一职业奖将支持旨在量化和控制微粒子之间相互作用的研究，以实现结构复杂的胶体晶体的自组织。这种超结构长期以来一直作为结晶和缺陷动力学等现象的模型而受到关注，并且由于其有趣的光学性质，在技术上具有重要意义。提出的实验采用仿生方法进行自组装，创建具有二维流体生物膜功能化的胶体颗粒。这些研究有望通过选择生物自组织工具，利用微颗粒与脂质和蛋白质膜的功能化来控制胶体晶体的形成，从而扩大胶体组装的范例。几个属性使生物膜成为粒子间相互作用的吸引介质：蛋白质连接的多样性和特异性；脂质组成控制静电性能的便利性；以及膜的二维流动性，这赋予了它们的成分能够根据环境的需要重新组织它们的分布。该项目可以为创建和表征膜衍生微球之间的相互作用确定一条实验路线。项目中描述的与活动相结合的教育计划将利用当代生物物理和生物材料主题的探索作为工具，向来自社会经济不利背景的中学生推广高等科学教育，并提高非科学专业大学生对科学的理解和科学思维。为了吸引和教育非科学专业的大学本科生，PI将创建一门独特的课程，通过阅读、讨论和实验练习来探索生物材料的物理特性。接触不同的当代学科可以改变学生对科学本质的看法，以及科学概念与日常世界的相关性。一个耦合的教育议程将利用活动来聚焦当前的、跨学科的科学，包括提议的研究项目所体现的那种，以影响广泛的学生教育。为了解决来自社会经济弱势背景的学生的大学入学率低的问题，作为该项目的一部分，将开发一个物理日营，为弱势中学生提供有关获得高等教育的信息，介绍科学探究文化和以活动为基础的科学教育。

This Career Award from the Biomaterials Program in the Division of Materials Research to the University of Oregon will support studies that aim to quantify and control interactions among microparticles to enable the self-organization of structurally complex colloidal crystals. Such superstructures have long been of interest as models of phenomena such as crystallization and defect dynamics, and are technologically important due to intriguing optical properties. The proposed experiments adopt a biomimetic approach to self-assembly, creating colloidal particles functionalized with two-dimensionally fluid bio-membranes. These studies are expected to expand paradigms of colloidal assembly by co-opting tools of biological self-organization, using functionalization of microparticles with lipid and protein membranes to control colloidal crystal formation. Several attributes make bio-membranes appealing mediators of inter-particle interactions: the variety and specificity of protein linkages; the ease with which lipid composition can control electrostatic properties; and the two-dimensional fluidity of membranes, which confers on their constituents the ability to reorganize their distribution as the context demands. The project could define an experimental route to both creating and characterizing the interactions among membrane-derivatized microspheres. Activity-coupled educational programs described in the project will use explorations of contemporary biophysical and biomaterial topics as tools to promote higher education in the sciences to middle-school students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and to improve non-science-major college students' understanding of science and scientific thinking. To engage and educate non-science-major college undergraduates, the PI will create a unique course exploring the physical properties of biological materials through readings, discussions, and laboratory exercises. Exposure to diverse contemporary subjects can change students' perceptions of the nature of the sciences and the relevance of scientific concepts to the everyday world. A coupled educational agenda will use activities that spotlight current, cross-disciplinary science, including the sort exemplified by the proposed research program, to impact the education of a wide spectrum of students. To address the low rate of college enrollment by students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, as part of this project, a Physics Day Camp will be developed that would provide disadvantaged secondary school students with information about access to higher education, an introduction to the culture of scientific inquiry, and activity-based science education.