Electrostatically Driven Self-Assembly

非技术性：该项目旨在研究静电力在生物材料组装中的作用，如蛋白质、精子头内的DNA凝结和动脉斑块的形成。拟议的研究强烈受到自然界中发现的丰富材料的强烈推动，这些材料往往显示出优越的机械性能和功能。在该项目下，生物分子(多肽和蛋白质)将与合成大分子(特定电解质和共聚物)相结合，创造出具有优异性能和性能的新型功能杂化材料。这项工作的结果影响了对生物自组装过程的基本理解，并有助于在生物技术和制药行业中的应用。我们的项目是高度跨学科的，将在科学、工程和医学领域日益复杂的跨学科工作中培训学生和博士后研究人员。我们的团队成员将获得最先进的显微镜、国家实验室的同步辐射X射线散射和生化方法方面的技能，为他们在学术界、政府和工业领域的职业生涯做准备。技术：该项目将研究静电自组装材料。特别是，我们将重点介绍带电物体(膜、圆柱体和球体)与相反带电的聚电解质(PE)或三嵌段共聚物(PE-中性-PE)的络合物。通过这一战略，我们希望从生物学(多肽和蛋白质)和合成聚合物化学中提取构建块来创建功能杂交材料。通过系统地改变积木之间的相互作用强度和范围，我们将确定长期有序的条件。这项工作的结果不仅将影响对生物自组装过程的基本理解，而且通过将其延伸到材料科学，有助于自组装纳米材料在药物输送、组织工程、生物分离过程、生物传感器材料、新型过滤材料以及燃料电池中的应用。该项目的跨学科性质将培养出具有严格的科学背景、独立思考并了解知识产权和现实世界应用的学生和博士后研究人员；所有这些方面都受到工业界和学术界的高度重视。

Non-technical: The project is aimed to investigate the role of electrostatic forces in the assembly of biological materials such as proteins, DNA condensation inside sperm heads, and formation of arterial plaque. The proposed research is strongly motivated by the richness of materials found in nature often displaying superior mechanical properties and functionalities. Under this project, biological molecules (peptides and proteins) will be combined with synthetic macromolecules (specific electrolytes and copolymers) to create novel functional hybrid materials with superior properties and performance. The results of this work impact the basic understanding of biological self-assembly processes and contribute to applications in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Our project is highly interdisciplinary and will train students and postdoctoral researchers in the increasingly complex interdisciplinary work in science, engineering and medicine. Our team members will acquire skills in state-of-the art microscopy, synchrotron X-ray scattering at national laboratories, and biochemical methods to prepare them for careers in academia, government and industry.Technical: The project will investigate electrostatically self-assembled materials. In particular, we will focus on complexes of charged objects (membranes, cylinders and spheres) with oppositely charged polyelectrolytes (PE) or tri-block copolymers (PE-neutral-PE). With this strategy, we expect to create functional hybrid materials from building blocks that are taken from biology (peptides and proteins) and synthetic polymer chemistry. By systematically varying the interaction strength and range between building blocks we will identify conditions for long-range order. The results of this work will not only impact the basic understanding of biological self-assembly processes, but also through extension to material science contribute to applications of self-assembled nanostructured materials in drug delivery, tissue engineering, bioseparation processes, biosensor materials, novel filter materials, as well as fuel cells. The interdisciplinary nature of the project will produce students and postdoctoral researchers that have a rigorous science background, are independent thinkers, and have an understanding of intellectual property and real world applications; all those aspects being highly valued by industry as well as academia.