Novel family of cellulose acetate fluorescent nanomaterials for bioimaging applications

该项目描述了一种使用醋酸纤维素（fda批准的人类使用材料）设计和制造超亮荧光纳米颗粒的方法。这项工作将填补利用斑马鱼异种移植模型进行癌症检测的新型纳米颗粒的稳定性、功能和功效方面的知识空白。这具有广泛的社会影响，具有很高的临床转化潜力。研究者将开发一种新的醋酸纤维素（CA）荧光纳米材料家族，它将具有生物相容性，更便宜，并且比量子点更亮，可用于早期癌症检测等体内测试。虽然CA广泛应用于食品和医疗行业，但目前只开发了大型纳米材料，由于它们在体内被迅速清除，因此不利于体内应用。研究人员将开发直径小于100纳米的CA纳米颗粒。这些粒子将封装多种染料，这些染料在不同的化学环境处理下具有超亮性、光稳定性和化学稳定性。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。

This project describes a methodology to design and manufacture ultra-bright fluorescent nanoparticles using cellulose acetate, an FDA-approved material for human use. The proposed work will fill the knowledge gaps in the stability, functionality, and efficacy of the novel nanoparticles for cancer detection using zebrafish xenograft models. This has a broad societal impact with a high translational potential to clinics.The investigator will develop a new family of cellulose acetate (CA) fluorescent nanomaterials that will be biocompatible, less expensive, and brighter than quantum dots for in vivo testing such as early cancer detection. Although CA is widely used in the food and medical industry, only large nanomaterials have been developed which are not good for in vivo applications as they are cleared rapidly from the body. The investigator will develop CA nanoparticles with diameters less than 100 nm. The particles will encapsulate multiple classes of dyes that will be ultrabright, photostable, and chemically stable at different chemical environment treatments.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.