Platform Grant: Novel Polymers and Colloids for Soft Nanotechnology

与现代生活相关的健康和舒适大部分归功于聚合物的发现和发展，也被称为塑料和橡胶。聚合物是由许多类似的连接（单体）组成的长链分子。在本提案中，我们将研究五个新的研究主题，这些主题将建立在我们以前在基础/应用聚合物科学方面的研究基础上，并有望带来令人兴奋的新突破，这些突破有望对生物医学研究和消费品的封装/释放技术产生影响，并提高作物产量。这些领域对英国工业都很重要，并将有助于保持英国公司的国际竞争力。Armes教授和Ryan教授在设计聚合物分子以形成特定形状方面拥有广泛的经验。如果我们制造一种长链聚合物，其中一半的链喜欢水（亲水性），另一半的链讨厌水（疏水性），那么当我们将这种聚合物放入水中时会发生什么？大约有一百条链会自行组织起来，使所有的疏水成分形成一个球形的球，所有的亲水成分包围着这些球，保护它们免受水的侵害。这些物体被称为胶束，它们的直径比人的头发小1000倍，它们形成的过程被称为自组装。如果疏水链比亲水链长，则形成“蠕虫状”胶束，而不是球形胶束。进一步增加疏水链的相对长度导致形成称为囊泡的中空颗粒（水位于颗粒内部和外部）。这三种类型的自组装物体是自发形成的，这意味着需要外部能量。我们希望研究控制胶束和囊泡形成的基本自组装过程，并探索这些新智能材料的潜在应用。我们将在以前研究的基础上，研究五个新的研究主题。我们将建造中空的颗粒，大约生物细胞的大小，在它们的表面有门或阀门，这样我们就可以用适当的触发器打开或关闭它们，以输送它们的内容物。我们将使用可生物降解的聚合物纺出比人类头发细100倍的纤维;这些新纤维将像脚手架一样通过一种称为组织工程的过程生长新的皮肤和骨骼。我们将制造用于药物输送和细胞培养的新型聚合物凝胶：这些凝胶的表面将被设计成与生物细胞非常相似，因此凝胶不会受到人体免疫系统的攻击。最后，我们将继续发展和测试理论，预测自组装过程中使用最先进的实验技术。这个平台补助金将提供重要的基础资金，使教授阿姆斯和教授瑞安在相当大的自由度，是他们的独立研究计划的核心重要性的一系列课题合作。由于他们的个人专业知识是高度互补的，这将提供令人兴奋的“增值”科学，这是任何一个研究人员都无法独立实现的。这两位科学家在向学术界传播他们的成果方面都享有国际声誉和良好的记录。此外，瑞安教授在公众了解科学活动中尤其成功，最近因“对科学的服务”而获得大英帝国勋章。

Much of the health and comfort associated with modern life is due to the discovery and development of polymers, otherwise known as plastics and rubbers. Polymers are long-chain molecules made from many similar links (monomers). In this proposal we will examine five new research themes that will build on our previous studies in basic/applied polymer science and hopefully lead to exciting new breakthroughs that are expected to impact on biomedical research and encapsulation/release technologies for both consumer products and improved crop yields. Each of these areas is of importance to UK industry and will help to maintain the international competitiveness of UK plc.Prof. Armes and Prof. Ryan have a wide range of experience of designing polymer molecules to form specific shapes. If we make a long-chain polymer where one half of the chain loves water (hydrophilic) and the other half of the chain hates water (hydrophobic), then what happens when we put this polymer into water? About a hundred chains will organise themselves so that all the hydrophobic components form a spherical ball with all the hydrophilic components surrounding these balls and protecting them from the water. These objects are called micelles, they have diameters that are 1000 times smaller than a human hair, and the process by which they are formed is called self-assembly. If the hydrophobic chain is longer than the hydrophilic chain, then 'worm-like' micelles are formed, rather than spherical micelles. Further increasing the relative length of the hydrophobic chain leads to the formation of hollow particles called vesicles (with water located both inside and outside the particles). These three types of self-assembled objects are formed spontaneously, which means that external energy is required. We wish to study both the fundamental self-assembly processes that govern the formation of micelles and vesicles and also to explore potential applications of these new smart materials.We will build on our previous studies by examining five new research themes. We will build hollow particles, about the size of biological cells, which have gates or valves in their surfaces so that we can open or close them with an appropriate trigger, to deliver their contents. We will spin fibres that are 100 times thinner than a human hair using polymers that are biodegradable; these new fibres will be used like scaffolding to grow new skin and bone by a process called tissue engineering. We will make new polymer gels for drug delivery and cell culture: the surface of these gels will be designed to be very similar to that of biological cells so the gels will not be attacked by the body's immune system. Finally, we will continue to develop and test theories that predict self-assembly process using the most advanced experimental techniques. This Platform Grant will provide vital underpinning funding to enable Prof. Armes and Prof. Ryan to collaborate with considerable freedom over a range of topics that are of central importance to their independent research programmes. Since their individual expertise is highly complementary, this will deliver exciting 'value-added' science that could not be achieved by either researcher independently. Both scientists have international reputations and excellent track records in disseminating their results to the academic community. In addition, Prof. Ryan has been particularly successful in his Public Understanding of Science activities, which culminated in the recent award of an OBE for 'services to science'.