New chemistry of making lipid nanostructures

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Nanotechnology is a driving force behind some of the most innovative science in the last decade. Recent advances in inorganic nanoparticles and polymeric nanoparticles have produced a wide spectrum of new nanoscale properties that lead to a large number of new tools and building blocks for the emerging disruptive technologies in health, energy, environmental fields. Comparing to such advance, the field of lipid nanoparticle development is operated at a much slower pace because of the limited chemical strategies available to engineer mono-dispersed lipid nanoparticles, the lack of diversity of lipid nanostructures and functions, and the narrow purview lipid nanoparticle utilities (mostly serving as drug delivery vehicles). To address this, we propose to develop three classes of novel lipid nanostructures. The first is the spherical and monolayered peptide-phospholipid scaffolds to mimic nascent high-density lipoproteins (HDL), which could serve as promising drug nanocarriers. The second is the use of newly discovered lipopeptides to create unconventional shaped lipid nanoparticles (tube, cage, etc.), this will further our understanding the 'nano-bio interface'. The third is the development of bilayered phototranductive lipid nanoparticles, which are soft and metal free nanoscale transducers that could lead to unprecedented photothermal and photoacoustic agents. Overall, this exciting project will develop new chemistry, structure and function of lipid nanoparticles and greatly expanded the utility of lipid nanoparticles from conventional delivery systems to novel functional materials.