I-Corps: Hybrid Halos for Biological Markers, Probes and Therapies

这个I-Corps项目的广泛影响和商业潜力是引入了一种新型的纳米颗粒-分子混合材料，在生命科学中有广泛的应用。这些混合探针将使紫外线和可见光光子的非侵入性传递到组织深处，否则光线无法穿透，以标记治疗或诊断的目标。例如，这种光可用于触发肿瘤药物在局部感兴趣点的释放，激发荧光团进行成像，在基因工程物种中启动神经放电或细胞信号转导级联等。我们的材料的应用将使更先进的实验成为可能，从而更好地理解复杂的系统，如大脑，这将最终有助于治疗和预防脑部疾病。此外，由于这些粒子在非常低的激发密度下进行光子上转换，因此更便宜的非相干光源（如红色led）可以取代目前所需的高功率近红外激光器。这是理想的点护理测试的个性化医疗和战场，即时诊断和便携性是必不可少的。I-Corps项目基于一种分子-纳米晶体混合材料，通过多步能量传递过程将光向上转换。对于上述生命科学应用，我们的标签通过避免生物物种吸收、散射和自身荧光的光学窗口激发，显示出比现有商业技术高得多的灵敏度。系统的不同组件可以被调谐，以选择性地从入射的低能近红外光子中产生高能紫外线和可见光光子。对纳米晶体光吸收体和分子发射体和发射体的综合控制使得光子上转换量子产率很高。这项技术的基础理解和进一步发展涉及光物理学、材料科学和合成化学领域的跨学科研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broad impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the introduction of a novel class of nanoparticle-molecular hybrid materials with a wide range of applications in the life sciences. These hybrid probes will enable the non-invasive delivery of ultra-violet and visible photons deep in tissue where the light could not otherwise penetrate, to mark targets for therapy or diagnostics. For example, this light may be used to trigger the uncaging of tumor drugs at local points of interest, excite fluorophores for imaging, initiate neural firing or cellular signal transduction cascades in genetically engineered species, etc. The application of our materials will enable more advanced experiments, leading to better understanding of complex systems such as the brain, which will ultimately help treat and prevent brain disorders. In addition, since these particles perform photon upconversion at very low excitation densities, much cheaper non-coherent light sources such as red LEDs can replace the high power near-infrared lasers currently required today. This is ideal for point of care testing for personalized medicine and the battlefield where instant diagnosis and portability are essential. The I-Corps project is based on a molecular-nanocrystal hybrid that upconverts light via a multi-step energy transfer process. For the life science applications mentioned above, our label exhibits much higher sensitivity than existing commercial technologies by avoiding excitation at the optical window where biological species absorb, scatter, and autofluoresce. Different components of the system can be tuned to selectively produce high energy ultra-violet and visible photons from incoming low energy near-infrared photons. Synthetic control of both the nanocrystal light absorber and molecular transmitter and emitter have resulted in a high photon upconversion quantum yield. Fundamental understanding and further development of this technology involves interdisciplinary research in the fields of photophysics, material science, and synthetic chemistry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.