Mass Transport through Single Carbon Nanotube

拟议的研究采用纤维保护的碳纳米管作为构建块的独特配置，以构建用于生物医学应用的基于碳纳米管的纳米注射器和纳米孔装置。 先进的半导体加工工具，如聚焦离子束仪器将被用来制造这些纳米器件。发展聚焦离子束技术以制造可应用于生物及医学领域的奈米元件，是本研究的主要目标。 当与原子力显微镜相结合时，拟议的纳米注射器将能够以纳米空间分辨率将微小但精确的生物分子输送到活细胞内的特定位置。 使用碳纳米管作为纳米注射器将生物医学材料输送到细胞中有几个主要优点：（a）碳纳米管的纵横比使其成为注射器应用的理想候选者，（B）碳纳米管的大杨氏模量使其非常坚固，可以承受弯曲力，（c）碳纳米管的理想尺寸，因此在注射过程中不会损坏细胞壁。所提出的纳米孔装置可用于计数或分选纳米尺寸的颗粒或生物分子，如核酸或小蛋白质。 提出了将质粒转录单位递送到活细胞的细胞内隔室中的原理实验的测试。这项研究工作将对细胞生物学和生物医学研究产生广泛的影响。 提出的基于碳纳米管的纳米器件，如纳米注射器或纳米孔器件，可以在细胞生物学中开辟新的领域。 拟议的使用聚焦离子束技术制造新纳米器件的研究也将有助于使用聚焦离子束技术的新制造方法的发展。 该研究项目还将寻求与当地几所高中和社区大学建立密切联系，并帮助培训社区大学和高中学生。

The proposed research employs a unique configuration of fiber-protected carbon nanotube as a building block to construct carbon nanotube based nano-injector and nanopore devices for biomedical applications. Advanced semiconductor processing tools such as focused ion beams instrument will be used to fabricate these nano-devices. The development of focused ion beam technique to fabricate nano-device that can be applied to fields of biology and medicine is the main goal of this proposed research. When coupled with atomic force microscope, the proposed nano-injector will have the ability to deliver minute but precise amount of bio-molecules to a specific location inside a living cell with nanometer spatial resolution. There are several major advantages to use carbon nanotube as a nano-injector to deliver biomedical materials into a cell: (a) the aspect ratio of carbon nanotube makes it an ideal candidate for injector application, (b) the large Young's modulus of carbon nanotube makes it very strong to withstand bending force, (c) the ideal size of carbon nanotube, so it will not damage the cell wall during injection. The proposed nanopore devices could be used to count or sort nanometer size particles or bio-molecules such as nuclear acids or small proteins. A test of principle experiment is proposed to deliver plasmid transcription units into intracellular compartments of a living cell. This research effort will have broad impacts on cell biology and biomedical research. The proposed carbon nanotube-based nano-devices such as nano-injectors or nanopore devices could open up new filed in cell biology. The proposed research on using focused ion beams technique to fabricate new nano-devices will also contribute to the development of new fabrication methodology using focused ion beam technique. This research project will also seek to develop close ties with several local high schools and community colleges and help to train community college and high school students.