RUI: Collaborative Research: Rational Design and Mechanistic Understanding of Carbon-Based Hybrid Nanostructures for Potent Microbicidal Function

RUI：合作研究：具有有效杀菌功能的碳基杂化纳米结构的合理设计和机理理解

• 批准号: 2102056
• 负责人: Liju Yang
• 金额: $ 30.78万
• 依托单位: North Carolina Central University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2102056&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Collaborative; Research; Rational; Design

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:Infections by bacterial pathogens, especially those that are resistant to antibiotics, represent a major threat to the public health in this country, with millions of people suffering from the infections and a significant number of deaths each year. Thus, there are urgent demands for alternative approaches to prevent the spread of such infections. Nanomaterials-based approaches hold promise to serve as antibacterial agents against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. This collaborative project will develop and establish the newly discovered photoactive nanomaterials, specifically carbon dots (CDots) and derived “hybrid dots” (with other components), as a uniquely potent biomaterials platform for killing MDR bacteria. CDots are of a core-shell structure, each with a nanoscale carbon particle as the core and organic molecules as the coating on its surface (shell). When exposed to human-friendly visible/natural or ambient light, CDots generate radical-like species that are highly lethal to bacterial pathogens, making them excellent bio-nanomaterials for antibacterial applications. This project will use some new strategies to design CDots and hybrid dots to improve and optimize the antibacterial performance, with expected broad positive impacts to the control of MDR pathogens, and also to the training of students in the important biomaterials field.TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This collaborative project is to further develop and establish carbon dots (CDots) and derived hybrid nanostructures as a unique biomaterials platform for visible/natural or ambient light-activated potent antibacterial function. CDots may be considered as a special kind of “core-shell” hybrid nanostructures, each with a small carbon nanoparticle core and a thin shell of attached organic materials for the particle surface passivation. They are strongly absorptive in the visible spectrum, and their photoexcited state properties and processes resemble those typically found in semiconductor quantum dots, but with unique advantages. The versatility and flexibility of modifying the dot surface with organic moieties enable the manipulation of CDots to enhance their optical properties and their interactions with the targeted bacterial cells. The project team will leverage these distinctive characteristics to design and prepare CDots and derived hybrid nanostructures for the desired properties based on the rationales including 1) the more effective photon harvesting across the entire visible spectrum, 2) highly efficient photoexcited state processes responsible for the antimicrobial activities, and 3) more targeted and stronger interactions with the bacterial cells, thus to establish the CDots/hybrid dots as effective and efficient broad spectrum agents for killing multidrug-resistant pathogens. The efforts will be coupled with investigations for mechanistic understanding of these bio-nanomaterials. The project will also have broader impacts in terms of societal benefits and technology development, institutional research enhancement, education and engagement of undergraduate students in research, and outreach activities.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.

非技术性总结：细菌病原体感染，特别是那些对抗生素具有耐药性的细菌病原体感染，是对该国公共卫生的主要威胁，每年有数百万人感染，死亡人数众多。因此，迫切需要采取其他办法来防止这种感染的蔓延。基于纳米材料的方法有望作为针对多药耐药（MDR）细菌的抗菌剂。该合作项目将开发和建立新发现的光敏纳米材料，特别是碳量子点（CDots）和衍生的“混合点”（与其他成分），作为杀死MDR细菌的独特有效的生物材料平台。CDot是一种核壳结构，每一个都有一个纳米级的碳颗粒作为核，有机分子作为其表面（壳）的涂层。当暴露于对人类友好的可见光/自然光或环境光时，CDots产生对细菌病原体高度致命的自由基样物质，使其成为抗菌应用的优良生物纳米材料。本项目将使用一些新的策略来设计CDots和混合点，以改善和优化抗菌性能，预期对MDR病原体的控制产生广泛的积极影响，并对重要生物材料领域的学生进行培训。技术摘要：本合作项目是进一步开发和建立碳点（CDots）及其衍生的混合纳米结构，作为一种独特的生物材料平台，用于可见光/自然光或环境光激活的有效抗菌功能。CDot可以被认为是一种特殊类型的“核-壳”混合纳米结构，每个具有小的碳纳米颗粒核和用于颗粒表面钝化的附着的有机材料的薄壳。它们在可见光谱中具有很强的吸收性，并且它们的光激发态性质和过程类似于通常在半导体量子点中发现的那些，但具有独特的优势。用有机部分修饰点表面的多功能性和灵活性使得能够操纵CDot以增强其光学性质及其与靶细菌细胞的相互作用。项目团队将利用这些独特的特性来设计和制备CDot和衍生的混合纳米结构，以获得所需的特性，其依据包括1）在整个可见光谱中更有效的光子捕获，2）负责抗菌活性的高效光激发态过程，以及3）与细菌细胞更具针对性和更强的相互作用，从而建立CDots/杂交dots作为有效和高效的广谱药剂用于杀死多药耐药病原体。这些努力将与对这些生物纳米材料的机械理解的调查相结合。该项目还将在社会效益和技术发展、机构研究增强、教育和本科生参与研究以及外展活动方面产生更广泛的影响。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。

项目成果

Stable Carbon Dots from Microwave-Heated Carbon Nanoparticles Generating Organic Radicals for In Situ Additions

• DOI: 10.3390/c9010005
• 发表时间: 2022-12
• 期刊: C
• 作者: Weixiong Liang;Buta Singh;Elton Y. Cao;C. Bunker;W. Cannon;L. Petta;Ping Wang;Liju Yang;Li Cao;Annalise Scorzari;Ya-Ping Sun

Carbon Dots versus Nano-Carbon/Organic Hybrids—Divergence between Optical Properties and Photoinduced Antimicrobial Activities

• DOI: 10.3390/c8040054
• 发表时间: 2022-10
• 期刊: C
• 作者: A. F. Adcock;Ping Wang;Elton Y. Cao;Lin Ge;Yongan Tang;Isaiah S. Ferguson;Fares S. Abu Sweilem;L. Petta;W. Cannon;Liju Yang;C. Bunker;Ya-Ping Sun

Carbon “quantum” dots for bioapplications

• DOI: 10.1177/15353702211057513
• 发表时间: 2021-12
• 期刊: Experimental Biology and Medicine
• 影响因子: 3.2
• 作者: Dekai Yuan;Ping Wang;Liju Yang;Jesse L Quimby;Ya‐Ping Sun

Inactivation of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus with Light-Activated Carbon Dots and Mechanistic Implications

• DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.2c00153
• 发表时间: 2022-07-07
• 期刊: ACS APPLIED BIO MATERIALS
• 影响因子: 4.7
• 作者: Adcock, Audrey F.;Wang, Ping;Yang, Liju
• 通讯作者: Yang, Liju

Mechanistic Exploration of Visible Light-Activated Carbon/TiO2 Hybrid Dots Damaging Bacterial Cells

• DOI: 10.3390/app12199633
• 发表时间: 2022-09
• 期刊: Applied Sciences
• 作者: A. F. Adcock;Weixiong Liang;Peter A. Okonjo;Xiuli Dong;K. Sheriff;Ping Wang;Isaiah S. Ferguson;S. Hwu;Ya-Ping Sun;Liju Yang