Iterative design of metallic nanoparticles towards the discovery of nano-bio interactions

金属纳米颗粒的迭代设计以发现纳米生物相互作用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-06441
• 负责人: Gu, Frank
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=738911
• 关键词: Iterative; design; metallic; nanoparticles; towards

Background: The integration of nanomaterials has transformed key applications in a multitude of scientific fields, such as energy, environmental technologies, water, therapeutics, and chemical processing. Gold nanoparticles are at the center of many of these applications. Conventionally, the physical properties of gold nanoparticles, such as size and shape, are engineered to alter properties and enhance performance. In the past 5 years, our lab has synthesized star-shaped gold nanoparticles with unique surface properties and showed that understanding how nanoparticle interact with biological membranes can lead to the development of novel sensors.  The designs of materials have been focusing on a single metal element, gold. Recent advances in nanomaterials engineering have led to the synthesis of nanostructures with metallic nanoclusters and showed enormous potential to improve efficiencies in terms of selectivity to target molecules. This proposal aims to discover the interactions between metallic NPs and microbial cells beyond the use of Au structures.  Objectives and Scientific Approaches: The long-term objective of the Discovery Grant is to drive an active research program to accelerate the discovery of design-dependent interactions of metallic NPs with microorganisms. The short-term objectives are 1) to investigate the interactions of alloy NPs with microorganisms and 2) to develop an iterative design of metallic nanoparticles towards biorthogonality. The program will dive into the mechanistic understanding of how to utilize the metallic nanoparticles for the detection of microbial cells, fostering the development of a more versatile platform for pathogen identification, and will, in turn, unlock new directions for the development of more highly resolved nanomaterial-based sensors. Novelty and significance: The work will the first comprehensive investigation of alloy metals to generate a "fingerprint"-like interactions for the sensing of biologicals and structures. The discoveries made from the iterative design can be extended to accelerate the discovery of new materials and pathogen sensors. The use of iterative design approach in the proposed work may establish a paradigm in which the use of progressive design reveals fundamental insight into material properties and guides systems design and engineering across a number of disciplines. This research program will also provide a supportive training environment for highly qualified personnel (HQP) including 2 Ph.D., 2 MASc, and 6 MEng students. The program would enable training of HQP in the multidisciplinary fields of biomaterials, nanotechnology, metallic structures, and pathogen sensing and detection, and have opportunities to develop transferable skills for high demand jobs in the advanced materials and manufacturing industry as well as in the biotechnology and healthcare industry.

工作背景：纳米材料的整合已经改变了许多科学领域的关键应用，如能源，环境技术，水，治疗和化学加工。金纳米颗粒是许多这些应用的中心。传统上，金纳米颗粒的物理性质，如大小和形状，被设计成改变性质和增强性能。在过去的5年里，我们的实验室合成了具有独特表面性质的星形金纳米颗粒，并表明了解纳米颗粒与生物膜的相互作用可以导致新型传感器的开发。材料的设计一直集中在单一的金属元素，金。纳米材料工程的最新进展已经导致了具有金属纳米团簇的纳米结构的合成，并且显示出在对靶分子的选择性方面提高效率的巨大潜力。该提案旨在发现金属纳米粒子和微生物细胞之间的相互作用，超越了使用Au structures. Objectives和科学方法：发现补助金的长期目标是推动一个积极的研究计划，以加速金属纳米粒子与微生物的设计依赖性相互作用的发现。短期目标是1）研究合金纳米颗粒与微生物的相互作用，2）开发一种面向双正交性的金属纳米颗粒迭代设计。该计划将深入了解如何利用金属纳米颗粒检测微生物细胞的机制，促进开发一个更通用的病原体识别平台，并将反过来为开发更高分辨率的纳米材料传感器开辟新的方向。 新奇和重要性：这项工作将是对合金金属的第一次全面调查，以产生用于生物和结构传感的“指纹”般的相互作用。从迭代设计中得到的发现可以扩展到加速新材料和病原体传感器的发现。在拟议的工作中使用迭代设计方法可以建立一个范例，其中使用渐进设计揭示了对材料特性的基本洞察，并指导系统设计和工程跨多个学科。该研究计划还将为高素质人员（HQP）提供支持性的培训环境，包括2名博士，2名硕士和6名工程硕士学生。该计划将使HQP在生物材料，纳米技术，金属结构和病原体传感和检测等多学科领域的培训成为可能，并有机会为先进材料和制造业以及生物技术和医疗保健行业的高需求工作开发可转移技能。