Protein based biological and bio-inspired materials and composites

虽然我们通常认为有机化合物是生命的基础，但许多生物材料实际上是由有机和无机物质组成的复合结构。例如，我们的骨骼和牙齿主要由有机蛋白质纤维（胶原蛋白）和磷酸钙矿物（羟基磷灰石）组成。这两个组件之间的复杂相互作用导致了具有令人印象深刻的机械性能的复杂层次组装。同样，有机矿物的相互作用对于软体动物等一些久坐不动的动物的生物粘附至关重要，软体动物使用可以在水下固定的蛋白质胶水附着在岩石上。令人惊讶的是，许多这些接口的形成，组成和结构的细节仍然没有得到很好的理解，尽管它的现象，如生物粘附和生物矿化的重要作用。更好地理解这些现象中的蛋白质-表面相互作用对各种应用中的界面材料设计具有重要意义，包括新型生物启发湿粘合剂，有针对性的防污表面和用于硬-软界面再生的组织工程支架。 我的研究计划的总体目标是从复合生物系统的研究中发现新的设计原则，并将这些原则应用于生物启发材料和表面的开发。 赠款的第一部分是在生物粘附领域。目标1将确定哪些蛋白质形成使淡水贻贝（斑马和斑驴贻贝）附着在水下表面的胶水。虽然海洋贻贝物种的粘附已被广泛研究，但对淡水贻贝中的粘附机制了解甚少，我们已经证明其蛋白质非常不同，这表明了不同的粘附机制。这方面的知识将是至关重要的，在制定一个有针对性的战略，以控制生物污损的入侵淡水贻贝物种在五大湖，将取代目前的非特异性控制（目标2），并在长期内将作为新的淡水贻贝启发生物粘合剂的框架。目标3，在生物矿化领域，将集中于设计多相仿生支架，包括矿化和非矿化胶原蛋白，用于修复硬软组织界面，这对再生提出了独特的挑战。 通过应用先进的表征技术与新颖的合成策略相结合，该计划将有助于对蛋白质-表面和蛋白质-矿物质相互作用的基本理解，并将开发生物灵感材料和表面，应用于生物污垢，生物粘附和组织工程。参与这些项目的学员将发展独特的多学科技能和对复合生物和生物启发材料的洞察力。

While we normally think of organic compounds as the basis of life, many biological materials are in fact composite structures, comprised of both organic and inorganic substances. Our bones and teeth, for example, are composed primarily of organic protein fibres (collagen) and a calcium phosphate mineral (hydroxyapatite). Complex interactions between these two components result in an intricate hierarchical assembly with impressive mechanical properties. Likewise, organic-mineral interactions are critical to the bioadhesion of some sedentary animals like mollusks, which attach to rocks using a protein glue that can set underwater. Surprisingly, details of the formation, composition and structure of many of these interfaces are still not well understood, despite its vital role in phenomena such as bioadhesion and biomineralization. A better understanding of protein-surface interactions in these phenomena has important implications for interfacial materials design in a variety of applications, including novel bio-inspired wet adhesives, targeted anti-fouling surfaces, and tissue engineering scaffolds for regeneration of hard-soft interfaces. The overall goal of my research program is to discover new design principles from the study of composite biological systems, and to apply these principles in the development of bio-inspired materials and surfaces. The first part of the grant is in the area of bioadhesion. Objective 1 will determine which proteins form the glue that allows freshwater mussels (zebra and quagga musssels) to attach to surfaces underwater. While the adhesion of marine mussel species has been extensively studied, much less is understood about the mechanisms of adhesion in freshwater mussels, whose proteins we have shown to be very different, suggesting a different mechanism of adhesion. This knowledge will be critical in developing a targeted strategy to control biofouling of invasive freshwater mussel species in the Great Lakes that will replace current non-specific controls (Objective 2), and in the long term will serve as framework for novel freshwater mussel-inspired bioadhesives. Objective 3, in the area of biomineralization, will focus on the design of multiphasic biomimetic scaffolds incorporating mineralized and non-mineralized collagen for the restoration of hard-soft tissue interfaces, which pose unique challenges for regeneration. Through the application of advanced characterization techniques combined with novel synthetic strategies, this program will contribute to the fundamental understanding of protein-surface and protein-mineral interactions, and will develop bio-inspired materials and surfaces with applications in biofouling, bioadhesion, and tissue engineering. The trainees who will work on these projects will develop unique multidisciplinary skills and insight into composite biological and bio-inspired materials.