Collaborative Research: Enzyme-Powered, Programmable Active Matter

合作研究：酶驱动的可编程活性物质

• 批准号: 2004417
• 负责人: Jennifer Ross
• 金额: $ 29.06万
• 依托单位: Syracuse University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2004417&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Enzyme; Powered; Programmable

Non-technical Abstract:Imagine a world in which roads can sense their damage and repair themselves like human skin, or in which natural disasters such as forest fires and landslides are prevented by materials that change shape and stiffness automatically, or in which clothing materials change their porosity to become personal protective equipment (PPE) when the clothing itself senses airborne pathogens. These futuristic ideas are currently science fiction, but if we have any hope of creating these amazing technologies, we need to begin today. This collaborative project seeks to explore the fundamental underpinnings of the materials needed for such applications. Specifically, in order to design any of these futuristic devices, we need to have materials that are self-powered and assembled hierarchically from energy-using building blocks. Luckily, many biological systems, such as cells, plants, and humans, are already capable of sensing their environment and responding by moving, changing shape, or releasing chemicals. The basic building blocks of these biological “systems” are enzymes, nanoscale machines made of protein that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. In order to dissect and begin to create an understanding of how enzymes can animate matter, our team will use enzymes to power new synthetic materials at the nanoscale to microscale. In the future, these nanoscale materials can be assembled themselves to create new larger scale active materials. Technical Abstract:The scientific objective of this project is to understand the physics of synthetic active materials powered by enzymes. The research team combines expertise in DNA nanotechnology, enzyme kinetics, single-particle tracking, and sensitive force measurements to address the following objectives: (1) The team uses DNA origami to design, create, and characterize a suite of active particles, driven by enzyme catalysis, with programmable size, shape, flexibility, and location of propulsive enzymes. This objective addresses a need to create new nano- to mesoscale active particles and uses these particles to understand the mechanisms governing enhanced motility. (2) The team characterizes the properties of an active bath of enzyme-driven particles via the fluctuation spectrum, dissipation of energy, and the ability of an active bath to propel passive particles to extract work from noise. A combined study of the single-particle motility and the active fluctuations that emerge from collections of active particles will reveal a wealth of new information, including the mechanisms of enhanced transport of active particles, as well as a non-equilibrium statistical mechanical description of active fluctuations. The importance of this approach lies in the potential to specify the microscopic details of active particles, like their size, shape, and flexibility, and then to discover how these attributes alter the single-particle and collective behaviors.This DMR grant supports research to understand the physics of synthetic active materials powered by enzymes with funding from the Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) and Biomaterials (BMAT) Programs in the Division of Materials Research of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.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.

摘要：想象一下这样一个世界：道路可以像人类的皮肤一样感知其损坏并自我修复；或者通过自动改变形状和刚度的材料来预防森林火灾和山体滑坡等自然灾害；或者当衣服本身感知空气中的病原体时，衣服材料可以改变其孔隙度，成为个人防护装备（PPE）。这些未来的想法目前还只是科幻小说，但如果我们有希望创造出这些惊人的技术，我们需要从今天开始。该合作项目旨在探索此类应用所需材料的基本基础。具体来说，为了设计这些未来的设备，我们需要有自供电的材料，并从使用能源的建筑模块分层组装。幸运的是，许多生物系统，如细胞、植物和人类，已经能够感知环境，并通过移动、改变形状或释放化学物质来做出反应。这些生物“系统”的基本组成部分是酶，一种由各种形状和大小的蛋白质组成的纳米级机器。为了解剖并开始理解酶是如何使物质有生命的，我们的团队将使用酶为纳米到微尺度的新合成材料提供动力。在未来，这些纳米级材料可以自行组装，以创造新的更大规模的活性材料。技术摘要：该项目的科学目标是了解由酶驱动的合成活性物质的物理特性。该研究团队结合了DNA纳米技术、酶动力学、单粒子跟踪和敏感力测量方面的专业知识，以实现以下目标：(1)该团队使用DNA折纸来设计、创建和表征一系列活性粒子，这些活性粒子由酶催化驱动，具有可编程的大小、形状、灵活性和推进酶的位置。这个目标解决了需要创造新的纳米到中尺度的活性粒子，并利用这些粒子来理解控制增强运动性的机制。(2)该团队通过波动谱、能量耗散和主动浴推动被动粒子从噪声中提取功的能力来表征酶驱动粒子的主动浴的特性。对单粒子运动和活跃粒子聚集产生的活跃波动的综合研究将揭示丰富的新信息，包括活跃粒子增强输运的机制，以及对活跃波动的非平衡统计力学描述。这种方法的重要性在于，它有可能确定活性粒子的微观细节，比如它们的大小、形状和灵活性，然后发现这些属性如何改变单粒子和集体行为。这项DMR拨款支持研究，以了解由酶驱动的合成活性材料的物理学，资金来自数学和物理科学理事会材料研究部的凝聚态物理（CMP）和生物材料（BMAT）项目。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。

项目成果

Nonequilibrium fluctuations and nonlinear response of an active bath

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevresearch.4.023043
• 发表时间: 2021-10
• 期刊: Physical Review Research
• 影响因子: 4.2
• 作者: Hunter Seyforth;Mauricio Gomez;W. Rogers;J. Ross;W. Ahmed