Nanoscale Electric Fields in Self-Assembled Optoelectronic Biomaterials

非技术：该奖项由材料研究部的生物材料项目颁发，由约翰霍普金斯大学化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统部的纳米生物传感器项目（ENG/CBET）共同资助，旨在研究与再生神经、心脏组织和骨骼肌相关的电活性生物材料，这些材料都已知对外部电脉冲有反应。新的电活性生物材料既能作为电场载体，又能作为更好的细胞迁移基质，将影响许多新兴的组织工程和生物能源应用。在这些影响能够实现之前，定量表征这些结构中存在的电场的大小以及对细胞生物学的特定影响将是至关重要的。这些研究跨越了当代材料科学的几个领域，因此需要化学和工程之间的科学合作。这里描述的方法建立在约翰霍普金斯大学开发的一种新材料平台上，在这种平台上，小有机分子与电子和生物功能相结合。这样产生的分子可以在生物条件下自结合，产生类似于细胞外基质结构元素的纳米级原纤维。目前的项目旨在了解这些纳米级材料的电子特性如何影响细胞行为，并利用这些知识来设计由光电输入指导的特定细胞结果。这项研究将使学生接触到用于光电和体外研究的生物材料设计和表征技术的最新进展。技术方面：该奖项授予约翰霍普金斯大学，将支持光电生物材料的创新项目，该项目结合了有机电子功能和促进细胞生长的寡肽。它涉及对肽纳米材料合成的系统研究，评估其在水和生物环境下的电学和光子特性，以及评估其在体外对细胞的影响。关键的假设是，纳米级电场设计成肽基水凝胶支架将对细胞的粘附和生长产生直接的空间和时间影响。新的电活性生物材料既能作为电场载体，又能作为更好的细胞迁移基质，将影响许多新兴的组织工程和生物能源应用。在这些影响能够实现之前，定量表征这些结构中存在的电场的大小以及对材料特性和细胞生物学的具体影响将是至关重要的。

Non-technical: This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research, and co-funded by the Nano-Biosensors Program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (ENG/CBET) to the Johns Hopkins University, is to study electroactive biomaterials that are relevant to regenerating nerves, cardiac tissue and skeletal muscle, all known to respond to external electrical impulses. New electroactive biomaterials that are capable of acting both as field carriers and as better cell migration matrices will be poised to impact many emerging tissue engineering and bioenergy applications. Before these impacts can be realized, it will be critical to quantitatively characterize the magnitude of electric fields present in these constructs and the specific impacts on cell biology. These investigations span several areas of contemporary materials science thus requiring a cooperative scientific effort among chemistry and engineering. The approach described here builds on a new material platform developed at Johns Hopkins whereby small organic molecules are combined with electronic and biological functions. The molecules thus created can self-associate under biological conditions to yield nanoscopic fibrils that resemble the structural elements of the extracellular matrix. The present project seeks to understand how the electronic properties of these nanoscale materials will impact cell behavior and to use this knowledge to engineer specific cellular outcomes directed by optoelectronic inputs. This research will expose students to the state of the art in biomaterial design and characterization techniques used for optoelectronic and in vitro studies.Technical: This award to Johns Hopkins University will support an innovative program in optoelctronic biomaterials that combines organic-based electronic function and cell-growth-promoting oligopeptides. It involves a systematic study of the synthesis of peptide nanomaterials, the assessment of their electrical and photonic properties under aqueous and biotic environments, and the assessment of their cellular influence in vitro. The key hypothesis is that nanoscale electric fields engineered into peptide-based hydrogel scaffolds will have direct spatial and temporal influence on cell adhesion and growth. New electroactive biomaterials that are capable of acting both as field carriers and as better cell migration matrices will be poised to impact many emerging tissue engineering and bioenergy applications. Before these impacts can be realized, it will be critical to quantitatively characterize the magnitude of electric fields present in these constructs and the specific impacts on both material properties and cell biology.