ABR: Functional Biomimetic Architectures

ABR：功能仿生架构

• 批准号: 1507946
• 负责人: Kent Kirshenbaum
• 金额: $ 44.5万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-07-15 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1507946&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ABR; Functional; Biomimetic; Architectures

With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division is funding Professor Kent Kirshenbaum at New York University to extend recent discoveries of synthetic polymers that mimic biological macromolecules. The underlying hypothesis is that synthetic polymer systems can be imbued with a "folding code" a predictable relationship between the sequence of the units in the polymer and a unique three-dimensional structure. The study will yield new families of functional folded molecules that can be used to create advanced materials and will lead to innovative strategies for drug discovery. The focus will be investigations of peptoids, which are sequence-specific polymers composed of diverse N-substituted glycine monomer units. Previous studies have demonstrated that certain peptoids exhibit a propensity to adopt discrete stable conformations, resembling the helical and turn motifs found in polypeptides. The goals for this renewal are to move beyond rudimentary peptoid secondary structures to create synthetic peptoid macromolecules that resemble the complex tertiary structures of proteins and consequently allow the design of new functional capabilities. The long-term objectives are to establish a predictable relationship between the sequence, the structure and the function of peptoid polymers. A collaboration with York College in New York City will provide research opportunities for students in under-represented groups. In addition, the project will continue science outreach programs by the "Experimental Cuisine Collective" at NYU, which introduces concepts in macromolecular sciences through the popular context of food and cooking. The broader impacts feature societal benefits attained through training the next generation of polymer scientists, along with addressing unmet needs in molecular pharmacology and synthetic biology.

凭借该奖项，化学系的高分子、超分子和纳米化学项目正在资助纽约大学的 Kent Kirshenbaum 教授，以扩展模仿生物大分子的合成聚合物的最新发现。基本假设是，合成聚合物系统可以注入“折叠代码”，即聚合物中单元序列和独特三维结构之间的可预测关系。该研究将产生新的功能性折叠分子家族，可用于制造先进材料，并将带来药物发现的创新策略。重点是类肽的研究，类肽是由不同的 N 取代甘氨酸单体单元组成的序列特异性聚合物。先前的研究表明，某些类肽表现出采用离散稳定构象的倾向，类似于多肽中发现的螺旋和转角基序。此次更新的目标是超越基本的类肽二级结构，创建类似于蛋白质复杂三级结构的合成类肽大分子，从而允许设计新的功能。长期目标是在类肽聚合物的序列、结构和功能之间建立可预测的关系。与纽约市约克学院的合作将为弱势群体的学生提供研究机会。此外，该项目将继续纽约大学“实验烹饪集体”的科学推广计划，通过食物和烹饪的流行背景介绍大分子科学的概念。更广泛的影响包括通过培训下一代聚合物科学家以及解决分子药理学和合成生物学中未满足的需求而获得的社会效益。