Design and Application of Biocompatible Polycations

该奖项由匹兹堡大学材料研究部的生物材料计划授予匹兹堡大学，旨在开发一种可与肝素相互作用的生物兼容聚阳离子家族，以提供生长因子。生长因子是一种强大的分子，可以控制细胞的生存、分化、增殖和迁移等功能。肝素与多种生长因子结合，这种结合稳定并增强了生长因子。本项目将探索结构变化对聚阳离子包裹和传递生长因子能力的影响。此外，该奖项还将研究如何控制生长因子的释放，并破译如何实现高有效率。该项目的第二部分将利用生长因子的力量，并使用它们来控制细胞命运和组织功能，并进一步加深我们对生物条件下聚电解质相互作用的理解。这项研究不仅将推动材料研究，还将为下一代研究人员为快速发展和令人兴奋的生物材料领域做好准备。研究生和本科生将在这个高度跨学科的项目中接受培训，并获得材料科学、细胞生物学、化学和再生医学方面的见解。这个项目的结果将通过万维网广泛传播，包括为手机设计的博客，这些博客也是为接触年轻受众而设计的。聚阳离子是携带许多正电荷的大分子。它们非常有用，因为它们与DNA、RNA和带负电荷的蛋白质等重要分子结合在一起。该项目下的研究将探索聚阳离子与生长因子(蛋白质)之间的相互作用，并找出如何保持生长因子的活性。生长因子控制细胞周期，如生命、死亡、移动或缺乏，改变为另一种细胞类型或细胞分裂。这项研究将使人们能够利用生长因子的力量来控制细胞行为。拟议中的研究有望获得关于这些分子在生物条件下如何相互作用的基本见解。此外，该项目将研究如何有效地提供增长因子，以改善或提高人类的健康和福祉。这项研究不仅将推动科学发展，还将为下一代研究人员为快速发展和令人兴奋的生物材料领域做好准备。研究生和本科生将在这个高度跨学科的项目中接受培训，他们有望获得材料科学、细胞生物学、化学和再生医学方面的见解。该项目的成果将通过包括博客在内的万维网广泛传播，特别是针对年轻受众，激发他们从事科学和工程事业的兴趣。

This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Pittsburg is to develop a family of biocompatible polycations that can interact with heparin to deliver growth factors. Growth factors are powerful molecules that can control cell functions including survival, differentiation, proliferation, and migration. Heparin binds with a wide range of growth factors and this binding stabilizes and potentiates growth factors. This project will explore the influence of structural variations on the polycations' capability to encapsulate and deliver growth factors. Furthermore, this award will study how to control the release of the growth factors and decipher how to achieve high rate of efficacy. The second part of the project will be to harness the power of growth factors and use them to control cell fate and tissue function, and further our understanding on polyelectrolyte interactions under biological conditions. This research will not only advance materials research, but also prepare next generation of researchers for the fast evolving and exciting field of biomaterials. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in this highly interdisciplinary project and gain insights in materials science, cell biology, chemistry, and regenerative medicine. The results from this project will be widely disseminated through the World Wide Web including blogs that are also designed for cell phones to a reach a young audience.Polycations are big molecules that carry many positive charges. They are very useful because they bind with important molecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins that carry negative charges. Studies under this project will explore the interaction between the polycations and growth factors (proteins), and to find out how to preserve the activity of the growth factors. Growth factors control cell cycles such as life, death, mobility or lack thereof, change to another cell type or cells division. This research will enable one to harness the power of growth factors to control cell behavior. The proposed studies are expected to gain fundamental insights on how these molecules interact under biological conditions. Furthermore, this project will study how to deliver growth factors efficiently to improve or enhance human health and wellbeing. This research will not only advance science, but also prepare next generation of researchers for the fast evolving and exciting field of biomaterials. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in this highly interdisciplinary project, and they are expected to gain insights in materials science, cell biology, chemistry, and regenerative medicine. The results of this project will be widely disseminated through the World Wide Web including blogs, especially targeting a young audience to ignite their interests in pursuing a career in science and engineering.