Excellence in Research: Unveiling the Potent Photo-activated Antiviral Functions of Carbon Dots and Derived Hybrid Dots

非技术概述：碳量子点（CDot）是直径为10 nm的纳米颗粒。CDot的核心由碳制成，表面的涂层由无毒的有机或生物分子组成。CDots最近被证明在可见光/自然光下具有高效的抗菌功能，这与其独特的光学性质和光诱导氧化还原特性有关。基于CDots已知的抗菌功能，该项目将CDots的研究和开发扩展到靶向病毒。病毒具有不同的结构，并且以与细菌不同的方式复制，因此专门设计和修改的CDot和具有由碳和其他材料组成的核心的混合点被合成和测试，以确定那些最有效的靶向病毒。该项目的成功执行可能导致开发有效的抗病毒剂，其潜在应用可用于预防病毒传播和感染，解决公共卫生和安全方面的一些关键问题。该项目还为教师的研究发展、代表性不足的少数民族学生的培训以及北卡罗来纳州中央大学STEM项目的学生招募提供了极好的机会。技术概要：该项目旨在开发碳量子点（CDots）和新型碳基混合量子点以靶向病毒。将TiO 2掺杂或染料光敏剂封装在核碳纳米颗粒中的混合点设计为显著改善光学性质并增强光动力学效应，从而利用混合点内两种组分的协同效应以获得更有效的抗病毒活性。该项目使用两种结构不同的模型病毒，小鼠诺如病毒（MNV）和水泡性口炎病毒（VSV），有三个研究目标：1）通过使用各种病毒结合试验和感染性试验，评估选定的CDots平台对代表性病毒的抗病毒活性，以了解性质-功能相关性。2)探索所选的混合点（C/TiO 2和C/染料光敏剂混合点）更有效的抗病毒活性对MNV和VSV，包括系统的评价之间的相关性的主要CDots属性，如点的表面电荷，点的大小，和光学性能和它们的抗病毒效果。3)CDots和杂交点的抗病毒作用的机制探索，重点是点和病毒之间的相互作用，活性氧（ROS）的产生，病毒颗粒的完整性，以及通过使用各种化学/生化分析工具和高分辨率显微镜方法对病毒蛋白质和病毒基因组完整性的损伤。该项目的成功执行导致开发出有效的抗病毒剂，具有预防病毒传播和感染的潜在应用。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Non-technical Summary: Carbon dots (CDots) are nanoparticles of diameter 10 nm. The core in a CDot is made of carbon, and the coating on the surface is composed of nontoxic organic or biological molecules. CDots have recently been demonstrated to have highly effective antibacterial function under visible/natural light, which is associated with their unique optical properties and photoinduced redox characteristics. Building upon the known antibacterial function of CDots, this project expands the research and development of CDots to target viruses. Viruses have different structures, and replicate in a different way from bacteria, so specifically designed and modified CDots and hybrid dots with the core composed of carbon and other materials are synthesized and tested to identify those that are most effective to target viruses. The successful execution of this project could lead to the development of effective antiviral agents with potential applications for preventing viral transmission and infection, addressing some of the critical issues in public health and safety. The project also provides excellent opportunities for the research development of faculty, the training of underrepresented minority students, and the recruitment of students into the pipeline to STEM programs at North Carolina Central University.Technical Summary: This project is to develop carbon dots (CDots) and novel carbon-based hybrid dots to target viruses. The hybrid dots, with TiO2 doping or dye photosensitizer encapsulation in core carbon nanoparticles, are designed to significantly improve the optical properties and enhance photodynamic effects, thus exploiting the synergistic effect of the two constituents within the hybrid dots for more effective antiviral activities. With the use of two structurally different model viruses, murine norovirus (MNV) and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), the project has three research aims: 1) Evaluation of the antiviral activities of selected CDots platforms against representative viruses, towards the understanding of property-function correlations by using various viral binding assays and infectivity assays. 2) Exploration of selected hybrid dots (C/TiO2 and C/dye photosensitizer hybrid dots) for more effective antiviral activities against MNV and VSV, including a systematic evaluation on the correlation between major CDots properties such as dot surface charge, dot size, and optical properties and their antiviral effectiveness. 3) Mechanistic exploration of CDots and hybrid dots' antiviral actions, focusing on the interactions between the dots and viruses, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, viral particle integrity, and damages in viral proteins and viral genomic integrity by using various chemical/biochemical analytic tools and high-resolution microscopy methods. The successful execution of this project leads to the development of effective antiviral agents with potential applications for preventing viral transmission and infection.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.