Carbohydrate Based Self Assembling Systems

本研究的重点是从丰富的碳水化合物中创造新型的功能生物相容材料，以促进碳水化合物化学、材料科学、生物技术和生物医学领域的进步。该计划将允许在可再生资源的基础上发现具有所需功能的新材料。王教授的研究将增加小分子水凝胶剂的可用性，并允许其他人探索它们的应用。使用所获得的水凝胶剂对酶的固定化对于生物催化、高通量分析和药物发现是重要的。含有二乙炔的水凝胶剂可以形成刺激响应型智能凝胶，可用作pH、温度传感器，并可用于传感生物分子和毒素的存在。所发现的新材料将作为控制释放介质、组织工程支架以及蛋白质固定化和纯化的生物医学应用。这将增进对分子结构和宏观性质之间关系的理解，并有助于指导其他研究人员设计智能材料。有机和高分子化学项目支持新奥尔良大学的王桂军教授，他的研究涉及有机合成、超分子化学、生物有机化学和材料科学等多个跨学科研究领域。除了潜在的生物医学应用外，拟议工作的更广泛影响是培训各级学生，并将这项研究纳入教育。学生在这些多学科领域的培训将为他们未来在生物材料研究、有机合成和生物医学领域的职业生涯做好准备。将特别努力招收本科生，特别是少数民族学生进行研究，这有助于提高留存和激发对科学领域的兴趣。将开发一个网站，其中包含相关的科学发现、背景信息和为学生提供的职业指导。由目前的研究和计划中的国际合作产生的计划中的未来专题课程将进一步增加该研究计划的影响。

The main focus of this research project is to create novel functional biocompatible materials from abundant carbohydrates that could lead to advancements in carbohydrate chemistry, materials science, biotechnology, and the biomedical field. This program will allow the discovery of novel materials with desired functionality based on renewable resources. Professor Wang's research will increase the availability of small molecule hydrogelators and allow others to explore their applications. The immobilization of enzymes using the hydrogelators obtained is important for biocatalysis, high throughput assays, and drug discovery. Diacetylene-containing hydrogelators can form stimuli-responsive smart gels that can be used as sensors for pH, temperature, and for sensing the presences of biomolecules and toxins. The new materials discovered will have biomedical applications as controlled release media, tissue-engineering scaffolds, and also for protein immobilization and purification. This will advance understanding of the correlation of molecular structures and macroscopic properties and help to guide other researchers in designing intelligent materials.The Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports Professor Guijun Wang of the University of New Orleans whose research involves several interdisciplinary research areas including organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry, bioorganic chemistry and materials science. The broader impacts of the proposed work in addition to the potential biomedical applications are the training of students at all levels and the incorporation of this research into education. The training of students in these multidisciplinary areas will prepare them for future careers in biomaterials research, organic synthesis, and biomedical fields. Special efforts will be made to recruit undergraduate students, especially minorities, to conduct research, which can help to improve retention and stimulate interest in science fields. A website will be developed containing related scientific discoveries, background information, and career guidance for students. A planned future special topics course resulting from the current research and planned international collaborations will further increase the impact of this research program.