UNS: Collaborative Research: Describing Macromolecular Transport through Chemically-Tuned Nanoporous Membranes via Theory, Computation, and Experiment

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Collaborative Proposals#1511835 / #1511862Boudouris, Bryan / Phillip, WilliamMembranes are crucial in a number of separation processes where desired products are isolated from undesired species. In particular, many emerging pharmaceutical treatments require the purification of active long-chain biomacromolecules as they leave the biopharmaceutical reactor. These biomacromolecules recently have been approved for the treatment of a variety of life-threatening diseases, including cancer and autoimmune diseases. However, the high cost of large-scale production and purification of these important materials, which is often transferred to the patient, has prevented their widespread implementation in clinical practice. Here, we will evaluate how macromolecules such as these important therapeutic agents are transported through membrane materials. By combining experimental results with theoretical predictions and computational simulations, we will be able to develop a complete picture of how transport occurs through small pores. In this way, we will be able to design better membranes. This opens the potential of generating more cost-effective purification systems, which could lessen the costs of patient treatment and open an economical means by which to treat a number of devastating diseases.The transport of macromolecular species is of fundamental import in a range of technologically-important membrane separations applications (e.g., the separation of therapeutic proteins). However, the exact mechanism of how a dissolved polymer chain traverses a membrane with pore sizes comparable to or smaller than the hydrodynamic diameter of the chain at thermodynamic equilibrium and without external stimuli (e.g., applied electric fields) is not understood fully. As such, a critical need exists to establish how pore size, pore chemistry, and the solution environment affect the interfacial transport of macromolecules across well-structured membranes. Here, we will utilize a combination of experimental techniques, thermodynamic theory, and computational modeling in order to tie nanoscale phenomena to physical observables at the macroscopic level. Our vision will result in a molecule-to-membrane level understanding of chemically-selective macromolecular transport through small pores; this understanding, which will be developed by connecting continuum transport properties to molecular models through advanced materials characterization methodologies, will enable us to develop the design principles for the rational engineering of chemically-selective membranes in a number of current and emerging separations platforms.Generating structure-property-performance relationships in the realm of size and chemically-selective membranes will lead to improved membrane design. This, in turn, will help decrease production costs and increase the energy efficiency of many processes required for the production of common consumer goods and more high-value products (e.g., therapeutic pharmaceuticals). As such, successful completion of this work has the potential to impact current manufacturing processes in a positive manner. Furthermore, the collaboration between Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame will allow students from both institutions to perform work at the partner institution. In this way, the students will have a more diverse educational experience. In addition to graduate students, undergraduate and high school students will perform research on this project. In particular, the high school student will be part of the American Chemical Society?s Project SEED program. In this program, high school students from economically-disadvantaged families (i.e., the family income cannot be greater than a factor of 2 above the poverty line) who show promise in science and engineering are placed in university laboratories during the summer in order to afford them a unique research experience. Therefore, this work has the ability to advance fundamental membrane science and to impact a unique group of interdisciplinary scientists and engineers with diverse socioeconomic and educational backgrounds.