CAREER: Metal-mediated Supramolecular Materials in Water: Towards Programmable Molecular Complexity with DNA-delivery Functions

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This CAREER award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports research by Professor Juan C. Noveron at the University of Texas at El Paso to investigate the supramolecular chemistry of metallo-lipid complexes in water. Systematic modifications in the molecular structure will be carried out to establish structure-function relationships. Supramolecular phase transitions in water induced by redox- and ligand-exchange reactions will be studied using X-ray spectroscopy and microscopy methods. Encapsulation of DNA plasmids of 5 to 15 Kbp with the metallo-lipid complexes will be investigated, and the structure and thermodynamic stability of DNA-condensates will be determined. Intrinsically fluorescent metallo-lipid complexes will be used to study the mechanism of DNA-condensation and to assess intracellular delivery. A sustained engagement with science classes of a middle school and a high school from the El Paso area will offer NSF's Peer-Led-Team-Learning (PLTL) activities once a month for the duration of the award. Undergraduate students in their middle years will be trained to become mentors to the middle and high school students during these activities. An upper division class focused on science and on english composition will be offered once a year. The production of a TV documentary about undergraduate STEM research student will be developed in collaboration with the University's production unit.The design of molecules with self-organized behavior in water can potentially afford materials with useful applications in emerging technologies and eventually medicine. Metal-mediated supramolecular vehicles designed with DNA-delivery functions may play important roles as biotechnology tools and eventually gene vaccines. The use of redox- and ligand-triggered supramolecular phase transitions in water will pave the way to intracellularly activated delivery systems in the future.