NanoMassCreator. Nanoparticle live synthesis: understanding of particle nucleation and growth by in-situ mass photometry

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Nanoparticles (NPs) are key building blocks in nanotechnology and, thanks to their remarkable properties unreachable for bulk materials, are extensively applied in catalysis, LCDs, solar panels, therapeutics, and biomedical imaging. Therefore, even a slight improvement in NP synthesis, and thereby NP properties, can have an enormous impact in research and industry. This multidisciplinary project, which borders physics, chemistry, and biology, aims to transform NP research, production, and application by developing a new way to characterise NP synthesis - in situ and with unprecedented resolution. My goal is to understand the physicochemical processes involved in NP synthesis by applying mass photometry - a recent breakthrough in biophysics based on interferometric scattering - to visualize single-NP growth at sub-nanometre resolution. Current methodologies used to characterize NPs often lack single-particle precision, resolution, speed, and affordability, or they are ill-suited to in-situ monitoring. The proposed approach to monitor NP synthesis by mass photometry will reveal the processes hidden behind the averaged signal that results from standard methods. Together with modeling NP scattering properties, it will allow the development of bright scattering and fluorescent NPs to be precisely tailored in terms of optical and bio-functionalization properties. I will demonstrate the impact of this research, which I will conduct at Oxford University under the supervision of mass photometry inventor Prof. Philipp Kukura, by using the NPs I develop for high-speed tracking in living cells during a secondment at Stanford University. The fulfillment of the project aim relies on connecting mass photometry with nanomaterial production - an area where I gained significant expertise during my doctoral studies. The project will allow me to broaden my knowledge about NP synthesis and nanomaterial applications in molecular imaging while dramatically improving NP synthesis.