LEAPS-MPS: CAS:Stimuli-Responsive Biodegradable Polymeric Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。在这个由数学和物理科学局资助、设在化学系的项目中，隋炳林教授和他的学生将致力于开发一系列刺激响应、生物兼容和可生物降解的聚合物和聚合物纳米材料，这些材料可广泛应用于生物和医学领域。随着纳米技术的快速发展，生物安全性和可持续性已成为面向生物的纳米材料的两个关键问题，这是由于纳米尺度的材料无法从人体内消除，而且它们在体内的蓄积可能会导致慢性全身毒性。穗教授将开发的新聚合物由含有生物可裂解化学键的可生物降解的高分子链组成。因此，在生物和生理环境中，聚合物和基于聚合物的纳米材料会逐渐分解，最终在体内变成无毒的小分子，没有生物安全性和可持续性的担忧。穗教授将利用新材料与癌症相关的生物医学应用来提高学生对人类健康问题的认识，并让研究生和本科生以及北达科他州部落学院中代表性较低的美国原住民学生参与到这项研究中来。穗教授建议解决纳米材料面临的挑战，这些挑战目前阻碍了大多数纳米级材料在生物医学方面的应用，特别是在生物成像和纳米医学方面。为此，新聚合物由可生物降解的骨架组成，其中包含可生物裂解的化学键以及刺激反应和自焚侧链，赋予聚合物纳米系统诊断、治疗和遗传剂共价结合的能力；可控的无迹释放-根据需要释放结合剂，最大限度地释放试剂；以及在释放装载的货物后在体内分解为无毒小分子，不会引起对生物安全和可持续性的长期担忧。这类材料的发展有望推动生物成像和纳米医学的发展，成为一种与传统医学方法相比更安全、更可靠、更有效的疾病诊断、预防和治疗技术。此外，提出的解决关键问题的战略将为开发越来越多的生物安全和可持续发展的聚合物和纳米材料铺平道路。穗教授计划让研究生和本科生，特别是STEM领域中代表性不足的少数族裔学生，以及高中生参与该项目，以扩大研究和以参与为导向的外展活动的整合。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). In this project, funded by the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and housed in the Chemistry Division, Professor Binglin Sui and his students will work to develop a series of stimuli-responsive, biocompatible and biodegradable polymers and polymer-based nanomaterials that can be extensively utilized in the biological and medical worlds. Biosafety and sustainability have become two critical issues of bio-oriented nanomaterials with the rapid development of nanotechnology, resulting from the fact that those materials with nanoscale sizes could not be eliminated from the body and their accumulation in the body is likely to induce chronic systemic toxicities. The new polymers that Prof. Sui will develop consist of biodegradable polymer chains containing bio-cleavable chemical bonds. Therefore, in biological and physiological environments, the polymers and polymer-based nanomaterials will gradually break down and eventually turn into nontoxic small molecules in the body, devoid of biosafety and sustainability concerns. Prof. Sui will use cancer-related biomedical applications of the new materials to promote students’ awareness of human health issues and to get graduate and undergraduate students as well as the underrepresented Native American students from tribal colleges in North Dakota engaged in the research. Prof. Sui proposes to address the challenges of nanomaterials that are currently preventing the majority of materials with nanoscale sizes from biomedical applications, especially for bioimaging and nanomedicine. To that end, the new polymers are composed of biodegradable backbones containing bio-cleavable chemical bonds and stimuli-responsive and self-immolative side chains, bestowing the polymeric nanosystems capabilities of covalent conjugation of diagnostic, therapeutic, and genetic agents; controllable traceless-release of the conjugated agents on demand with maximal agent-releasing efficiency; and decomposition into nontoxic small molecules in the body after liberating loaded cargos, inducing no long-term concerns of biosafety and sustainability. The development of such materials expects to advance the evolution of bioimaging and nanomedicine into a biosafe, more reliable, and more efficient technique compared to traditional medicinal methods for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases. Furthermore, the proposed strategy for solving the critical issues will pave the way for the development of more and more biosafe and sustainable polymers and nanomaterials. Prof. Sui plans to involve graduate and undergraduate students, especially underrepresented minority students in STEM fields, as well as high school students in the project to broaden the integration of research and participation-oriented 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.