Ascertaining Block Copolymer Nanodomain-Guided Protein Adsorption and Surface Assembly Characteristics Towards Creating Functional Protein Constructs

乔治敦大学化学系的Jong-in Hahm教授得到化学系大分子，超分子和纳米化学（MSN）计划的支持，研究蛋白质在表面上的吸附。 该研究的重点是蛋白质如何粘附和积累在纳米图案化聚合物材料的表面上。蛋白质在聚合物表面的吸附影响了许多日常应用，如食品包装、健康器械（隐形眼镜、人工关节和植入支架）、诊断工具和生物传感器。 本研究的目的是获得一个分子水平的理解蛋白质吸附的复杂机制，并确定在纳米级的聚合物表面上的蛋白质行为。 从这项研究中获得的知识可能有助于蛋白质组装体的小型化和功能定制的生物材料，生物器件和组织工程支架的发展。 教育和推广活动与研究活动相结合。 这些措施包括通过参与的本科生和高中学生代表性不足的群体利用多样性;通过在软物质表征新开发的课程，提高学生的学习经验;并促进学生在扩展的科学交流环境超越乔治敦大学网络的机会。该项目的目的是阐明非竞争性和竞争性蛋白质吸附特性在嵌段共聚物（BCP）纳米域表面上的单个生物分子水平上，这些表面针对BCP的化学组成，周期性和对齐进行了精确调整。 该研究还试图确定BCP纳米结构域相关变量对广泛的有用模型蛋白质的吸附特性的影响，并建立一种高效的方法，用于快速精确地创建纳米尺度图案化的蛋白质，其方向和对齐控制在大的基底面积上。通过揭示迄今为止尚未回答的单一和多蛋白质系统的重要纳米级蛋白质吸附特性，该研究可以为纳米级蛋白质吸附提供急需的直接实验数据，其空间分辨率等于或低于单个蛋白质水平和每个BCP纳米结构域水平。新的基本工具集预计从研究方面调整BCP表面的物理和化学参数，以有效地指导和控制给定蛋白质的大面积组织。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Professor Jong-in Hahm of the Department of Chemistry at Georgetown University is supported by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry (MSN) Program of the Division of Chemistry to study protein adsorption on surfaces. The study is focused on how proteins adhere and accumulate on the surfaces of nano-patterned polymeric materials. Protein adsorption on polymer surfaces impacts numerous everyday applications such as food packaging, health devices (contact lenses, artificial joints and implanted stents), diagnostic tools, and biosensors. The objectives of this research is to obtain a molecular-level understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying protein adsorption and to identify protein behavior on polymeric surfaces at the nanoscale level. The knowledge obtained from this research may aid in the development of protein assemblies for miniaturized and function-tailored biomaterials, biodevices, and tissue engineering scaffolds. Educational and outreach activities are integrated with the research activities. These include harnessing diversity through participation of underrepresented groups of undergraduate and high school students; enhancing student learning experiences through a newly-developed course in soft matter characterization; and promoting student networking opportunities in extended scientific exchange settings beyond Georgetown University. The project aims are to elucidate noncompetitive and competitive protein adsorption characteristics at the individual biomolecular level on block copolymer (BCP) nanodomain surfaces that are precisely tuned for BCP's chemical composition, periodicity, and alignment. The research also seeks to determine the effects of the BCP nanodomain-related variables on the adsorption characteristics for a broad range of useful model proteins and to establish a highly effective method for rapidly and precisely creating nanoscale-patterned proteins with their orientation and alignment controlled over large substrate areas. By revealing important nanoscale protein adsorption characteristics of single and multi-protein systems that are unanswered to date, the study may provide much needed, direct experimental data for nanoscale protein adsorption with spatial resolution at or below the individual protein level and at each BCP nanodomain level. New fundamental toolsets are anticipated from the study in terms of tuning the physical and chemical parameters of BCP surfaces to effectively guide and control the large-area organization of given proteins.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.