Design of micro/nanocantilevers with adsorbed biomacromolecules using molecular modelling

利用分子模型设计吸附生物大分子的微/纳米悬臂梁

• 批准号: 203144-2007
• 负责人: Choi, Phillip
• 金额: $ 1.92万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2010-01-01 至 2011-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=453150
• 关键词: Design; micro; nanocantilevers; adsorbed; biomacromolecules

With the increasing threat of biological warfare worldwide and the outbreak of various highly contagious diseases, the development of strategies and equipment to detect and control the spread of these biological elements and diseases is of vital importance. To this end, being able to identify the existence of biological elements and virus carriers becomes highly desirable. Recently, several research groups have shown that, using surface modified micro-cantilevers, a few disease-related DNAs (e.g., prostate cancer) can be detected. This is because upon binding of the target DNA onto the micro-cantilever surface, the micro-cantilever would bend. It would be most desirable to further the technique to detect various protein molecules possessed by highly contagious/dangerous viruses or other biological substances. The extension of the technique to detect target viral protein molecules is challenging since DNA and protein molecules possess different characteristics. Key technical issues involved are the selection and immobilization of protein molecules that would function as probe molecules, the ability to measure the target molecules at minute concentrations and the detection time. Unless the above technical issues are resolved, construction of such a commercial biosensor is not feasible. In order to do so, a fundamental understanding of the physics involved in the detection principle is required. And this is the major thrust of the proposed research. The proposed research program will focus on developing molecular modelling strategies, based on molecular dynamics simulation and/or density functional theory calculation, to investigate hybridization of the DNA/protein molecules on micro/nano-mechanical cantilever surfaces. If we succeed, we envision that the results could be used to guide the selection of probe molecules for the hybridization process and the design of a prototype of hand-held biosensor for ground solider and homeland security applications.

随着全球生物战威胁的日益增加以及各种高度传染性疾病的爆发，开发检测和控制这些生物元素和疾病传播的策略和设备至关重要。 为此，能够识别生物元件和病毒载体的存在变得非常令人渴望。 最近，几个研究小组表明，使用表面修饰的微悬臂梁，可以检测到一些与疾病相关的 DNA（例如前列腺癌）。 这是因为当目标 DNA 结合到微悬臂梁表面时，微悬臂梁会弯曲。 最理想的是进一步发展检测高度传染性/危险病毒或其他生物物质所拥有的各种蛋白质分子的技术。 由于 DNA 和蛋白质分子具有不同的特征，因此扩展检测目标病毒蛋白质分子的技术具有挑战性。 涉及的关键技术问题是作为探针分子的蛋白质分子的选择和固定、以微小浓度测量目标分子的能力以及检测时间。 除非上述技术问题得到解决，否则构建这样的商业生物传感器是不可行的。 为此，需要对检测原理所涉及的物理学有基本的了解。 这是拟议研究的主旨。 拟议的研究计划将侧重于开发基于分子动力学模拟和/或密度泛函理论计算的分子建模策略，以研究微/纳米机械悬臂表面上DNA/蛋白质分子的杂交。 如果我们成功了，我们预计这些结果可用于指导杂交过程中探针分子的选择以及用于地面士兵和国土安全应用的手持式生物传感器原型的设计。