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

乔治城大学化学系的Jong-in Hahm教授得到了化学系大分子、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。这项研究的重点是蛋白质如何在纳米图案聚合物材料的表面附着和堆积。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、保健设备(隐形眼镜、人工关节和植入支架)、诊断工具和生物传感器。这项研究的目的是从分子水平上了解蛋白质吸附的复杂机制，并在纳米水平上识别蛋白质在聚合物表面的行为。从这项研究中获得的知识可能有助于开发用于微型化和功能定制的生物材料、生物设备和组织工程支架的蛋白质组件。教育和外联活动与研究活动相结合。这些措施包括通过代表不足的本科生和高中生群体的参与来利用多样性；通过新开发的软物质表征课程来增强学生的学习体验；以及在乔治敦大学以外的更广泛的科学交流环境中促进学生的网络机会。该项目旨在阐明嵌段共聚物(BCP)纳米结构域表面在单个生物分子水平上的非竞争性和竞争性蛋白质吸附特征，这些表面根据嵌段共聚物的化学组成、周期性和排列进行了精确的调整。该研究还试图确定BCP纳米结构域相关变量对一系列有用的模型蛋白质的吸附特性的影响，并建立一种高效的方法来快速而准确地创建纳米图案蛋白质，其取向和排列可在大片底物区域内控制。通过揭示迄今为止尚未得到解答的单蛋白质和多蛋白质体系的重要纳米级蛋白质吸附特性，该研究可能为在单个蛋白质水平或低于单个蛋白质水平以及在每个BCP纳米结构域水平上以空间分辨率吸附纳米级蛋白质提供迫切需要的直接实验数据。在调整BCP表面的物理和化学参数方面，这项研究预计会有新的基本工具集，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，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.