US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Development of Environmental Sensors Using Sol Gel Processing

描述：该奖项是为了表彰美国佛罗里达州阿拉丘亚的美国生物材料公司首席技术官David Greenspan博士和埃及开罗国家研究中心(NRC)玻璃研究部的Morsi M.Morsi博士共同开展的一个合作项目。这项联合研究的目的是研究使用浸渍了活性生物和合成有机分子的生物活性溶胶凝胶玻璃来制造环境传感器的可行性。溶胶凝胶法被用来制备多种材料的成分，其中具有商业价值的硅胶光学材料就是其中之一。这些材料是光学透明的，但它们包含大量稳定的相互连接的孔隙率。这种多孔基质可以被光学活性的第二有机或无机相浸渍，以创建一类新的有源光学传感器。该项目将涉及NRC的工作，以开发将有机和生物分子结合到多孔光学基质中的浸渍工艺；传感器原型的IR和UV-Vis光谱的光学表征；以及将其基质中的传感器分子的光学特性与溶液中的分子进行比较。美国生物材料公司实验室的工作将包括开发具有生物活性的CaO-P_2O_5-SiO_2凝胶玻璃的各种组成的多孔光学基质；表征基质的孔径分布以及表面积和等电点；以及对原型传感器进行生物活性测试，以确定传感器分子的构象在浸渍过程后是否保持完好。范围：这项研究项目将结合美国研究所的生物活性凝胶-玻璃基质技术，以及NRC的溶胶-凝胶和生物技术专业知识。该项目可能导致在埃及建立高科技行业制造环境生物传感器的新能力，该传感器能够与光纤设备行业耦合。埃及环境传感器的应用对美国很有用，因为美国的环境质量被认为是一个全球问题。这一提议符合INT的目标，即在对双方都有利的领域加强美国与外国的合作。该项目得到了美国-埃及联合基金计划的支持，该计划为两国的科学家和工程师提供资助，以开展这些合作活动。

Description: This award is for support of a cooperative project by Dr. David Greenspan, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Biomaterials Corp. in Alachua, Florida, and Dr. Morsi M. Morsi of the Glass Research Department at the National Research Center (NRC) in Cairo, Egypt. The objective of this joint research is to study the feasibility of manufacturing environmental sensors using biologically active sol gel glasses impregnated with active biological and synthetic organic molecules. Sol gel processing is used to make many compositions of materials, among which are Gel-Silica Optics which have commercial value. These materials are optically transparent, yet they contain a large volume of stable interconnected porosity. The porous matrices can be impregnated with optically active second organic or inorganic phases for creating a new class of active optical sensors. The project will involve work at the NRC to develop impregnation processes for incorporating organic and biological molecules inside the porous optical matrices; optical characterization of the IR and UV-Vis spectra of the sensor prototypes; and comparison of the optical characteristics of the sensor molecules in their matrices with the molecules in solution. Work at the U.S. Biomaterials Corp. laboratory will include development of porous optical matrices of various composition of biologically active CaO-P2O5-SiO2 gel-glasses; characterization of the pore size distributions and surface areas and isoelectric points of the matrices; and conduct of biological activity testing of the prototype sensors to determine whether the conformations of the sensor molecules are retained intact following the impregnation process. Scope: This research project will bring together the bioactive gel-glass matrix technology of the US institution, and the sol-gel and biotechnology expertise of the NRC. The project can lead to establishing a new capability in Egypt for high technology industry for manufacturing environmental biosensors capable of being coupled with the fiber optics device industry. The application to environmental sensors in Egypt is useful to the United States where the environmental quality is considered a global issue. This proposal meets the INT objective of increasing US-foreign collaboration in areas that benefit both sides. This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.