Self-Organized Structures from Nanoparticles and Proteins

“该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。”智力优势：蛋白质、dna和病毒具有自组装成有序形态的能力，这是由于这些基本生物构建块的界面相互作用。水溶性无机纳米颗粒（NPs）具有相似的尺寸，表面化学性质，因此具有类似的np间相互作用。事实上，他们也有自我组织的能力。在这里，我们将探索一个假设，即NPs和蛋白质可以形成具有新的形态和拓扑结构的杂交组合，这可能与蛋白质和NPs形成的组合有相似之处。除了在两个主要不同类别的大分子之间建立深刻的基本类比之外，这项工作的动机来自于需要找到在许多情况下模仿生物对应物的复杂NP结构的方法。这种需要的一个典型例子是植物和细菌光合中心的复制，用于太阳能转换。此外，设计可作为光子系统、传感器和微/纳米级门控系统的媒体响应动态NP组件也将是一件有趣的事情。具体来说，在这个项目中，将使用CdTe NPs和细胞色素C （Cyt C）的组合。这两种组分都具有很强的偶极矩，并且由于偶极-偶极相互作用可以潜在地自组装。产物可以是纳米线（NWs）、纳米片（NSs）、纳米螺旋（NHs）和可能的其他超结构。一旦组装物被很好地表征为生物分子的结合，整合蛋白质的构象变化将被用来调整整体形态。研究还将重点放在以温度变化和pH效应为两个主要控制参数的生物纳米复合材料形态结构的实验调节上。将测试导致np -蛋白质纳米复合材料从1D到2D和3D结构可逆转化的条件。更广泛的影响：研究工作将得到强有力的外联部分的补充。该项目将为学生提供一个充满活力和激励的环境，介绍化学工程和界面科学中最棘手的问题。学生有机会与工业研究人员在发展纳米技术的新应用方面进行互动，这将加强这项建议对教育的影响。由于材料设计技术相对简单，以及提案中使用的复合材料的单个组件的化学安全性，我们计划让密歇根州的暑期高中学生参与其中，从而传播纳米技术知识，扩大研究的教育影响广度。密歇根大学以其大规模的多元化努力和在各个层次招收高素质的少数民族学生而闻名。该提案通过校园和全州范围的项目整合了这些努力，并将少数民族和性别少数群体都纳入该项目。类似于NPs大小的不同蛋白质结构和不同长度的DNA分子也将被用于类似的研究。无机材料与DNA的组装将被类似地开发和表征为可逆形态的机制。通过提高对生物纳米复合材料形成的理解和对先进组件的进一步改造，将为设计与现有方法相比具有更高控制能力的新架构提供机会。通过这种方法以可逆的方式实现有序结构也将为设计特定电子，传感和诊断应用的材料开辟新的途径。

0932823Kotov"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Intellectual Merit:Proteins, DNAs and viruses have the capability to self-assemble into ordered morphologies due to interfacial interactions of these basic biological building blocks. Water-soluble inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have similar dimensions, chemistries on their surface, and, hence, analogous inter-NP interactions. Indeed, they also have the ability to self-organize. Here, we will explore a hypothesis that NPs and proteins can form hybrid assemblies with new morphologies and topologies, which probably have similarities with those made by proteins and those made by NPs. Besides establishing profound fundamental analogy between two principally different classes of macromolecules, the motivation for this work comes from the need to find methods to make complex NP structures in many instances mimicking the biological counterparts. One characteristic example for this need is the replication of the photosynthetic center of plants and bacteria for solar energy conversion. As well, it will also be interesting to design media-responsive dynamic NP assemblies that can serve as photonic systems, sensors, and micro/nano scale gating systems. Specifically, in this project, the combination of CdTe NPs and Cytochrome C (Cyt C) will be used. Both of the components have strong dipole moments and can potentially self-assemble due to dipole-dipole interaction. The products can be nanowires (NWs), nanosheets (NSs), nanohelixes (NHs) and possibly other superstructures. Once the assemblies are well-characterized for the incorporation of biomolecules, the conformational change of the integrated proteins will be used to tune the overall morphology. The study will also focus on the experimental modulation of the morphological structures of the bio-nanocomposites based upon temperature change and pH effect as two primary control parameters. Conditions leading to reversible transformations of the NP-protein nanocomposite from 1D to 2D and 3D structures will be tested.Broader Impact:The research effort will be complemented by the strong outreach component. The project will provide an energetic and stimulating environment for students with introduction to the toughest problems of chemical engineering and interfacial science. The educational impact of the proposal will be enhanced by the possibility for students to interact with industrial researchers in the development of new applications of nanotechnology. Due to the relative simplicity of materials design techniques as well as chemical safety of the individual components of the composites to be used in the proposal, we plan to involve summer high school students from Michigan thereby disseminating the knowledge on nanotechnology and expanding the breadth of educational impact of the research. University of Michigan is well known for its large-scale diversity effort and recruitment of highly qualified minority students at all levels. This proposal integrates these efforts through campus- and state-wide programs and will have both ethnic and gender minorities immersed in the project. Different protein structure similar to size of NPs and DNA molecules in various lengths will be also employed for similar studies. The assemblies of inorganic materials with DNA will be similarly exploited and characterized for the mechanism of reversible morphologies. By improving the understanding for the bio-nanocomposite formation and further alteration of advanced assemblies will offer the opportunity to design new architectures with higher control compared to the current methods available. Achieving ordered structures by this method in a reversible fashion will also open a new route for designing materials for specific electronic, sensing and diagnostic application.