ABR: Functional Biomimetic Architectures

化学部的大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目正在资助纽约大学的肯特·科什鲍姆教授，以扩展最近发现的模仿生物大分子的合成聚合物。潜在的假设是，合成聚合物系统可以被灌输一种“折叠密码”，即聚合物中单元序列和独特的三维结构之间的可预测关系。这项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，并将为药物发现带来创新策略。重点将是研究类肽，这是由不同的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旋转基序。这种更新的目标是超越基本的类肽二级结构，创造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能力。长期目标是在肽类聚合物的序列、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代表性不足群体的学生提供研究机会。此外，该项目还将继续纽约大学“实验烹饪集体”的科学推广项目，该项目将通过食品和烹饪的流行背景介绍大分子科学的概念。更广泛的影响是通过培养下一代聚合物科学家来获得社会效益，同时解决分子药理学和合成生物学中未满足的需求。

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.