EAGER: Chiral Membranes for Protein Resistance

1546589RPIBelfortEAGER的建议是一个潜在的高风险高回报的努力，因为它涉及到一个变革性的，新的方法，以减少非特异性蛋白质膜表面相互作用。最近PI发现膜表面手性影响蛋白质溶液的过滤。如果存在具有相同组成的另一个分子，但其以不可重叠的镜像排列，即类似于人手，则分子被认为是手性的。 非特异性蛋白质粘附或蛋白质污染发生在生物加工中的合成膜过滤、海洋结构和医疗设备中。蛋白质的这种不期望的粘附是主要的技术和经济挑战。用手性表面来减少这些限制将是重要的，并且具有广泛的影响。PI提出表面应该具有与蛋白质相同的手性（手性假设）。研究的目标是（i）确认，扩展和研究手性对蛋白质抗性的作用，以及（ii）确定手性膜是否可以对小分子的对映体进行断裂。这种可能减少蛋白质污染的根本不同的方法处于早期阶段，并且可能对生物加工产生变革性影响。

1546589RPIBelfortThis EAGER proposal is potentially a high risk high payoff effort as it involves a transformative, new approach to reduce non-specific protein-membrane surface interactions. Recently the PI discovered that membrane surface chirality influences filtration with protein solutions. A molecule is considered chiral if there exists another molecule that is of identical composition, but which is arranged in a non-superposable mirror image, i.e. similar to human hands. Non-specific protein adhesion or protein fouling occurs with synthetic membrane filtration in bioprocessing, with marine structures and with medical devices. This undesired adhesion of proteins is a major technical and economic challenge. Reducing these limitations with chiral surfaces would be significant and have broad impact.The PI proposes that the surface should have the same chirality as a protein (the chiral hypothesis). The goals of the research are to (i) confirm, expand and investigate the role of chirality with respect to protein resistance, and (ii) determine if chiral membranes can fractionate enantiomers for small molecules. This radically different approach to possibly reducing protein fouling is in its early stages and is potentially transformative for bioprocessing.