MESOPOROUS SILICA NANOPARTICLES

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 纳米医学利用纳米材料和原理在分子水平上进行医学干预，目的是治愈疾病或修复组织。药物输送可以说是纳米医学中最重要和最有前途的领域之一。在众多新近开发的药物载体中，无机纳米材料，特别是无定形介孔二氧化硅纳米颗粒，由于其高的比表面积和孔体积以及均匀、可调的孔径和表面化学性质的生物相容性而特别吸引人。大多数药物加载方案依赖于静电相互作用。例如，纯二氧化硅在中性或生理pH下带负电荷，并强烈吸附带正电荷的药物。然而，这种药物加载机制容易受到体液中其他分子或离子置换而导致的过早药物释放的影响。 样品将主要是介孔二氧化硅纳米颗粒负载的磷脂双层膜。我们的目标是使用冷冻-电子显微镜来观察支撑的双层或多层结构是脂电荷和流动性的函数。这种表征将有利于纳米粒子的设计。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Nanomedicine utilizes nanoscale materials and principles to effect medical intervention at the molecular scale with the goal of curing diseases or repairing tissues. Drug delivery is arguably one of the most important and promising areas in nanomedicine. Amongst the many recently developed drug carriers, inorganic nanomaterials, in particular amorphous mesoporous silica nanoparticles, are particularly attractive due to their biocompatibility combined with high surface area and pore volume and uniform, tunable pore diameters and surface chemistries. Most drug loading schemes rely on electrostatic interactions. For example, pure silica is negatively charged at neutral or physiological pH and strongly adsorbs positively charged drugs. Such a drug loading mechanism, however, is susceptible to pre-mature drug release induced by displacement by other molecules or ions in the body fluid. The samples will mainly be mesoporous silica nanoparticle supported phospholipid bilayers. We aim to use cryo-EM to observe the supported bilayer or multilayer structures are a function of lipid charge and fluidity. This characterization will be beneficial for the design of the nanoparticles.