Degradable plasmon resonant gold nanoshells

该奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助。0853921罗曼诺夫斯基等离子体共振是一种与金属纳米颗粒相关的光学现象，目前正在进行细胞层面的生物医学成像和干预研究。然而，从体内完全消除目前可用的纳米粒子的大小要求可能会限制它们的临床应用。为了应对这一挑战，我们最近报道了一种新的复合材料--可生物降解的等离子体共振纳米壳的制备和测试。这种全新的材料保持了固体金属壳的光学可调谐特性，但在降解时会产生符合肾清除要求的单个直径团簇。可生物降解的金属纳米壳可能使许多研究阶段的技术能够在临床上转化，包括这些研究人员早些时候研究的金纳米颗粒的成像和治疗应用。本研究计划的主要目标是评估可降解的金纳米壳在医学诊断和治疗中的应用。将研究可降解纳米壳的光热转化、含量释放以及分子靶向。递送药物给感兴趣的细胞类型的特异性将被确定。释放的内容物的亚细胞命运将被详细描述，以评估增强向细胞递送的机制，并将调查递送的试剂(SiRNA)影响细胞功能的能力。这项研究项目的一个组成部分是为对纳米级工程材料感兴趣的学生提供研究和教育机会，以便将其应用于人类健康。除了研究生支持外，这项研究计划还将在亚利桑那大学活跃的两个项目中创造教育机会，一个是本科生生物学研究项目，另一个是针对对科学感兴趣和有能力的未被充分代表的高中生的暑期研究项目。这一经验将帮助这些研究人员随后加强光子学、分子生物学和材料科学领域的教育课程，或者更广泛地说，纳米医学。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).0853921RomanowskiPlasmon resonance, an optical phenomenon associated with metal nanoparticles, is being investigated for biomedical imaging and intervention at the cellular level. However, the size requirements for complete elimination of currently available nanoparticles from the body may limit their clinical utility. In response to this challenge we recently reported preparation and testing of a new composite material, biodegradable plasmon resonant nanoshells. This fundamentally new class of materials maintains optical tunability characteristic of solid metallic shells, yet upon degradation yields individual clusters of diameter compatible with the requirements of renal clearance. Biodegradable metallic nanoshells may enable clinical translation of many research-stage technologies, including imaging and therapeutic applications of gold nanoparticles studied by these investigators earlier. The main goal of this research plan is to evaluate applications of degradable gold nanoshells in medical diagnostics and therapy. Photothermal conversion, content release as well as molecular targeting of degradable nanoshells will be studied. Specificity of delivering agents to cell types of interest will be determined. The subcellular fate of the released contents will be detailed to evaluate mechanisms to enhance delivery to cells, and the ability of the delivered agent (siRNA) to effect cell function will be investigated. An integral part of this research project is to provide research and educational opportunities to students with interest in engineering materials on the nanometer scale for applications in human health. In addition to a graduate student support, this research plan will create educational opportunities within two programs active at the University of Arizona, Undergraduate Biology Research Program and a summer research program for underrepresented high school students with interest and abilities in science. This experience will subsequently help these investigators enhance educational curriculum in areas of photonics, molecular biology and material science, or more broadly, nanomedicine.