Mass Transport through Single Carbon Nanotube

这项拟议的研究采用独特的纤维保护碳纳米管结构作为构建块，构建基于碳纳米管的纳米注射器和纳米孔装置，用于生物医学应用。先进的半导体加工工具，如聚焦离子束仪器，将被用于制造这些纳米器件。发展聚焦离子束技术以制备可应用于生物和医学领域的纳米器件是本研究的主要目标。当与原子力显微镜相结合时，所提出的纳米注射器将能够以纳米空间分辨率将微小但精确的生物分子输送到活细胞内的特定位置。使用碳纳米管作为纳米注射器将生物医学材料输送到细胞中有几个主要优点：(A)碳纳米管的长径比使其成为注射器应用的理想候选者，(B)碳纳米管的大杨氏模数使其能够承受很强的弯曲力，(C)碳纳米管的理想尺寸，因此在注射过程中不会破坏细胞壁。所提出的纳米孔设备可以用于对纳米尺寸的颗粒或生物分子(如核酸或小蛋白质)进行计数或分类。提出了一种原则性实验的测试，即将质粒转录单位运送到活细胞的胞内隔间。这项研究工作将对细胞生物学和生物医学研究产生广泛影响。提出的基于碳纳米管的纳米器件，如纳米注射器或纳米孔器件，可能会打开细胞生物学的新领域。提出的利用聚焦离子束技术制备新型纳米器件的研究也将有助于发展利用聚焦离子束技术的新的制备方法。该研究项目还将寻求与当地几所高中和社区大学发展密切联系，并帮助培养社区大学和高中生。

The proposed research employs a unique configuration of fiber-protected carbon nanotube as a building block to construct carbon nanotube based nano-injector and nanopore devices for biomedical applications. Advanced semiconductor processing tools such as focused ion beams instrument will be used to fabricate these nano-devices. The development of focused ion beam technique to fabricate nano-device that can be applied to fields of biology and medicine is the main goal of this proposed research. When coupled with atomic force microscope, the proposed nano-injector will have the ability to deliver minute but precise amount of bio-molecules to a specific location inside a living cell with nanometer spatial resolution. There are several major advantages to use carbon nanotube as a nano-injector to deliver biomedical materials into a cell: (a) the aspect ratio of carbon nanotube makes it an ideal candidate for injector application, (b) the large Young's modulus of carbon nanotube makes it very strong to withstand bending force, (c) the ideal size of carbon nanotube, so it will not damage the cell wall during injection. The proposed nanopore devices could be used to count or sort nanometer size particles or bio-molecules such as nuclear acids or small proteins. A test of principle experiment is proposed to deliver plasmid transcription units into intracellular compartments of a living cell. This research effort will have broad impacts on cell biology and biomedical research. The proposed carbon nanotube-based nano-devices such as nano-injectors or nanopore devices could open up new filed in cell biology. The proposed research on using focused ion beams technique to fabricate new nano-devices will also contribute to the development of new fabrication methodology using focused ion beam technique. This research project will also seek to develop close ties with several local high schools and community colleges and help to train community college and high school students.