IGERT: Physical & Biomolecular Foundations for Designing Nanoprobes for Biology

该综合研究生教育和研究培训奖支持在约翰霍普金斯大学建立一个项目，为设计和制造纳米探针以研究细胞和其他生物系统提供科学基础。纳米探针是纳米尺度的固体颗粒，表面附着蛋白质或生物分子。它们可以被设计成传递遗传物质或其他生化分子，并对应用领域做出反应，这样研究人员就可以将它们引导到活细胞内所需的位置。这些工具将促进对细胞中生物物理和生化事件的科学理解，有可能影响生物技术和治疗行业。IGERT的学生将接受培训，了解粒子性质如何随粒子直径的变化而变化，从而创造出具有所需光学、电学或磁性质的纳米探针。生物纳米探针必须与细胞兼容，并且应该保持独立的实体而不是聚集在一起。因此，IGERT的学生将接受小材料科学、胶体和界面科学以及现代实验室工具操作生物分子的培训。IGERT的学生还将接受细胞信号传导方面的培训，或亚细胞结构如何沟通或细胞之间如何沟通的科学。因此，来自物理和生物科学以及工程学科的学生将在物理化学、材料科学和生物科学的界面上接受基本原理和最先进的实验技术的培训。他们将准备在各自的领域做出独特的贡献，并将推进纳米技术在生物系统研究中的应用。这个IGERT致力于外展，并将与CCNY、加州大学洛杉矶分校、美国印第安人科学与工程学会和JHU教育外展中心的学术领袖合作，吸引来自代表性不足群体的学生成为IGERT的博士生和本科生，以获得研究经验。IGERT是一项nsf范围内的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战，他们具有跨学科背景，所选学科的深厚知识，以及未来职业需求所需的技术，专业和个人技能。该计划旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训模式，在一个超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，促进研究生教育的文化变革。

This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training award supports the establishment at Johns Hopkins University of a program to provide the scientific foundations needed to design and create nanoprobes to study the cell and other biological systems. Nanoprobes are solid particles of nanoscopic dimensions with proteins or biomolecules attached to their surfaces. They can be designed to deliver genetic material or other biochemical molecules, and to be responsive to applied fields so researchers can steer them to desired locations within living cells. These tools will advance the scientific understanding of biophysical and biochemical events in cells, with potential to impact biotechnology and therapeutics industries. IGERT students will be trained to understand how particle properties change with particle diameter to create nanoprobes with desired optical, electrical, or magnetic properties. Biological nanoprobes must be compatible with the cell, and should remain as discrete entities rather than aggregating. Therefore, IGERT students will be trained in the science of small materials, colloid and interface science, and in modern laboratory tools to manipulate biomolecules. IGERT students will also be trained in cell signaling, or the science of how subcellular structures communicate, or cells communicate with each other. Thus students drawn from the physical and biological sciences and the engineering disciplines will be trained in fundamental principles and state-of-the-art experimental techniques at the interface of the physical chemical, materials science and biological sciences. They will be prepared to make unique contributions in their fields and will advance the use of nanotechnology in the study of biological systems. This IGERT is committed to outreach, and will work with academic leaders from CCNY, Cal Sate LA, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Center for Educational Outreach at JHU to attract students from underrepresented groups as IGERT doctoral students and as undergraduates to gain research experiences. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.