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)和一种磷酸钙矿物(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的层次化组装。同样，有机-矿物质的相互作用对软体动物等久居动物的生物黏附至关重要，软体动物使用一种可以在水下凝固的蛋白胶附着在岩石上。令人惊讶的是，许多这些界面的形成、组成和结构的细节仍然没有被很好地理解，尽管它在生物黏附和生物矿化等现象中起着至关重要的作用。更好地了解这些现象中的蛋白质-表面相互作用对于各种应用中的界面材料设计具有重要意义，包括新型生物启发的湿式粘合剂、靶向防污表面以及用于再生硬-软界面的组织工程支架。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灵感材料和表面的开发。赠款的第一部分是在生物黏附领域。目标1将确定哪些蛋白质形成了使淡水贻贝(斑马和Quagga贻贝)附着在水下表面的胶水。虽然海洋贻贝的粘附性已被广泛研究，但对淡水贻贝的粘附性机制的了解要少得多，我们已经证明了淡水贻贝的蛋白质非常不同，这表明了一种不同的粘着机制。这些知识对于制定一项有针对性的战略以控制五大湖入侵淡水贻贝物种的生物污染至关重要(目标2)，该战略将取代目前的非特定控制(目标2)，并将长期作为新型淡水贻贝生物粘合剂的框架。目标3，在生物矿化领域，将重点设计含有矿化和非矿化胶原的多相仿生支架，用于修复硬-软组织界面，这对再生构成了独特的挑战。通过将先进的表征技术与新的合成策略相结合，该计划将有助于对蛋白质-表面和蛋白质-矿物相互作用的基本了解，并将开发生物灵感材料和表面，应用于生物污垢、生物黏附和组织工程。将在这些项目中工作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.