LEAPS-MPS: Water-soluble Afterglow Luminescent Nanocomposites for Bioimaging and Bioanalysis

在这个项目中，由数学和物理科学理事会（MPS）和刺激竞争研究的建立计划（EPSCoR）共同资助，由NSF化学部门管理，Steven Wu和他在南达科他州大学的学生将进行研究，旨在开发一系列水溶性余辉发光纳米复合材料，用于生物成像和生物分析，使用碳点（cd）和半导体聚合物纳米颗粒（SPNs）。由于生物样品本身具有较强的荧光，且光穿透深度有限，在光学生物成像和生物分析中，如何消除背景噪声以达到较高的灵敏度和准确性仍然是一个挑战。吴博士和他的学生将研究CDs@SPN纳米复合材料的合成、表征和余辉发光机制，并将努力展示其在生物成像和生物分析方面的潜力。他们的研究有望为设计具有低背景噪声的余辉发光探针提供见解，用于生物成像和生物分析，从而提高检测灵敏度和准确性。此外，吴博士和他的团队将与南达科他州的部落学院和大学联系，为代表性不足的本科生提供参与研究项目的机会，并鼓励他们将科学作为一种职业选择。在该奖项下，南达科他州大学的Wu研究小组提出了利用余辉发光纳米材料解决光学生物成像和生物分析过程中强背景噪声的挑战。他们将对正在开发的用于生物成像的余辉纳米材料进行化学合成、表征和机理研究。本项目的技术目标有四个方面：(1)通过调整掺杂元素和碳化水平合成余辉碳点光谱；（ii）合成余辉碳点掺杂半导体聚合物纳米颗粒（CD@SPNs），该纳米颗粒可构成基于Fӧrster CDs和SPNs之间共振能量转移（FRET）制备水溶性余辉发光探针的通用方法；(3)研究余辉发光的机制；(4)余辉发光纳米探针在生物成像和生物分析中的应用，以实现高灵敏度和准确性。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。

In this project, co-funded by the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and managed by the Chemistry Division at NSF, Steven Wu and his students at the University of South Dakota will perform studies that aim to develop a range of water-soluble afterglow luminescent nanocomposites for bioimaging and bioanalysis, using carbon dots (CDs) and semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (SPNs). Due to the strong autofluorescence from biosamples and limited light penetration depth, it is still a challenge to eliminate background noise during optical bioimaging and bioanalysis to achieve high sensitivity and accuracy. Dr. Wu and his students will investigate the synthesis, characterization, and afterglow luminescent mechanisms of the CDs@SPN nanocomposites and will work to demonstrate their potential in bioimaging and bioanalysis. Their studies are expected to provide insight into the design of afterglow luminescent probes with reduced background noise for bioimaging and bioanalysis, thereby improving detection sensitivity and accuracy. In addition, Dr. Wu and his team will reach out to Tribal Colleges and Universities in South Dakota and provide opportunities for underrepresented undergraduate students to participate in research projects and encourage them to consider science as a career option. Under this award, the Wu research team at the University of South Dakota proposes to address the challenges of strong background noise during optical bioimaging and bioanalysis using afterglow luminescent nanomaterials. They will perform chemical synthesis, characterization and mechanistic investigations of the afterglow nanomaterials that they are developing for bioimaging applications. The technical objectives of this project are four-fold: (i) synthesis of of a spectrum of afterglow carbon dots by adjusting the doping elements and carbonization level; (ii) synthesis of afterglow carbon dot-doped semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (CD@SPNs), which could constitute a general approach to fabricating water-soluble afterglow luminescent probes based on Fӧrster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between CDs and SPNs; (iii) investigating the mechanism of afterglow luminescence and (iv) implementation of afterglow luminescent nanoprobes in bioimaging and bioanalysis to achieve high sensitivity and accuracy.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.