Investigation of Protein Transport in Functionalized Polymeric Nanopores

在化学系化学测量和成像（CMI）项目的支持下，伊利诺伊理工学院的关喜云教授和他的研究团队正在研究功能化聚合物纳米孔中的蛋白质转运。 促进分子通过通道和孔的移位对于生物系统中的跨膜转运至关重要。Guan团队将把研究重点放在研究蛋白质与聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）薄膜中合成的纳米级孔之间的相互作用，并开发新的策略来提高PET纳米孔的分辨率和灵敏度并扩大其实用性。这项工作的结果有可能促进对PET纳米孔系统的理解，并为PET纳米孔随机传感器的严格设计提供见解。拟议的研究有可能对生物材料，生物传感，纳米技术和电化学等各个领域产生广泛的影响。该项目为研究生、本科生和高中生提供了独特的研究机会，包括从代表性不足的群体中积极招募的个人。在这个研究项目中，伊利诺伊理工学院的关团队旨在解决一个瓶颈，即，分辨率和灵敏度差，这限制了PET纳米孔在过去十年中作为单分子随机传感元件用于各种应用的效用。本项目的目的是系统地研究各种因素对蛋白质与PET纳米孔之间相互作用的影响，并建立PET纳米孔内蛋白质的动力学和热力学性质与孔径，孔内表面功能和物理条件之间的关系。具体目标包括（i）开发简单、成本有效、易于创建、稳定、可运输和可重复使用的功能化单轨蚀刻圆锥形PET纳米孔平台，用于在单分子水平上进行蛋白质表征;（ii）开发新的无标记策略以研究动态结构信息（例如，（iii）了解关于各种因素如何影响蛋白质与PET纳米孔相互作用的动力学和热力学性质的机制;以及（iv）根据需要，使用现有的物理化学模型或开发新的模型，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Xiyun Guan and his research team at the Illinois Institute of Technology are investigating protein transport in functionalized polymeric nanopores. Facilitated translocation of molecules through channels and pores is of fundamental importance for transmembrane transport in biological systems. The Guan group will focus their research efforts on investigating the interactions between proteins and synthetic nanoscale-sized pores fabricated in poly-(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films, and developing new strategies to improve the resolution and sensitivity of PET nanopores and expand their utility. Results from this work have the potential to advance understanding of PET nanopore systems and provide insight into rigorous design of PET nanopore stochastic sensors. The proposed research has the potential to have a broad impact on a variety of areas, such as biomaterials, biosensing, nanotechnology, and electrochemistry. This project provides unique research opportunities for graduate, undergraduate and high-school students, including individuals actively recruited from underrepresented groups. In this research project, the Guan team at the Illinois Institute of Technology aims to address a bottleneck, i.e., poor resolution and sensitivity, which has limited the utility of PET nanopores as single-molecule stochastic sensing elements for various applications in the past decade. The intent of this project is to systematically examine the effects of various factors on the interaction between proteins and the PET nanopores, and establish the relationships between the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of proteins inside a PET nanopore and the pore diameters, pore inner surface functions and physical conditions. Specific objectives include (i) developing a simple, cost-effective, easy to create, stable, transportable and reusable functionalized single-track etched conical-shaped PET nanopore platform for protein characterization at the single molecule level; (ii) developing a new label-free strategy to investigate the dynamic structural information (e.g., conformational change) of biomolecules in real time; (iii) understanding the mechanisms regarding how various factors affect the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of protein interactions with the PET nanopores; and (iv) the using existing physico-chemical models or developing new models, as needed, for nanopore systems to predict the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of protein transport in nanopores.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.