Nanoscale Electric Fields in Self-Assembled Optoelectronic Biomaterials

非技术性：该奖项由材料研究部的生物材料计划，以及化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统部门的纳米生物传感器计划(ENG/CBET)共同资助给约翰霍普金斯大学，旨在研究与再生神经、心脏组织和骨骼肌相关的电活性生物材料，所有这些材料都能对外部电脉冲做出反应。新的电活性生物材料既可以作为现场载体，也可以作为更好的细胞迁移基质，这将对许多新兴的组织工程和生物能源应用产生影响。在实现这些影响之前，对这些结构中存在的电场的大小和对细胞生物学的具体影响进行定量表征将是至关重要的。这些研究跨越了当代材料科学的几个领域，因此需要化学和工程之间的合作科学努力。这里描述的方法建立在约翰·霍普金斯大学开发的一种新的材料平台上，通过这种平台，有机小分子与电子和生物功能相结合。这样产生的分子可以在生物条件下自结合，产生类似于细胞外基质结构元素的纳米纤维。本项目试图了解这些纳米材料的电子性质将如何影响细胞行为，并利用这一知识来设计由光电输入指导的特定细胞结果。这项研究将使学生了解用于光电子学和体外研究的生物材料设计和表征技术的最新水平。技术：约翰霍普金斯大学的这一奖项将支持一项将有机电子功能和促进细胞生长的寡肽结合在一起的光电生物材料的创新计划。它包括合成多肽纳米材料的系统研究，在水和生物环境下对其电学和光子性质的评估，以及对其体外细胞影响的评估。关键的假设是，将纳米级电场工程化为基于多肽的水凝胶支架将对细胞的黏附和生长产生直接的空间和时间影响。新的电活性生物材料既可以作为现场载体，也可以作为更好的细胞迁移基质，这将对许多新兴的组织工程和生物能源应用产生影响。在实现这些影响之前，对这些结构中存在的电场的大小以及对材料特性和细胞生物学的具体影响进行量化表征将是至关重要的。

Non-technical: This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research, and co-funded by the Nano-Biosensors Program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (ENG/CBET) to the Johns Hopkins University, is to study electroactive biomaterials that are relevant to regenerating nerves, cardiac tissue and skeletal muscle, all known to respond to external electrical impulses. New electroactive biomaterials that are capable of acting both as field carriers and as better cell migration matrices will be poised to impact many emerging tissue engineering and bioenergy applications. Before these impacts can be realized, it will be critical to quantitatively characterize the magnitude of electric fields present in these constructs and the specific impacts on cell biology. These investigations span several areas of contemporary materials science thus requiring a cooperative scientific effort among chemistry and engineering. The approach described here builds on a new material platform developed at Johns Hopkins whereby small organic molecules are combined with electronic and biological functions. The molecules thus created can self-associate under biological conditions to yield nanoscopic fibrils that resemble the structural elements of the extracellular matrix. The present project seeks to understand how the electronic properties of these nanoscale materials will impact cell behavior and to use this knowledge to engineer specific cellular outcomes directed by optoelectronic inputs. This research will expose students to the state of the art in biomaterial design and characterization techniques used for optoelectronic and in vitro studies.Technical: This award to Johns Hopkins University will support an innovative program in optoelctronic biomaterials that combines organic-based electronic function and cell-growth-promoting oligopeptides. It involves a systematic study of the synthesis of peptide nanomaterials, the assessment of their electrical and photonic properties under aqueous and biotic environments, and the assessment of their cellular influence in vitro. The key hypothesis is that nanoscale electric fields engineered into peptide-based hydrogel scaffolds will have direct spatial and temporal influence on cell adhesion and growth. New electroactive biomaterials that are capable of acting both as field carriers and as better cell migration matrices will be poised to impact many emerging tissue engineering and bioenergy applications. Before these impacts can be realized, it will be critical to quantitatively characterize the magnitude of electric fields present in these constructs and the specific impacts on both material properties and cell biology.