EAPSI: Development of Tissue Frameworks and Gene/Drug Delivery Vehicles

改善组织工程和药物/基因传递领域是非常有趣的，因为这些领域有望对医疗领域和许多人的生活质量产生重大影响。特别感兴趣的是：组织损伤的愈合速度，器官组织可以生长的框架的合成，以及低效药物输送的副作用，以及其他领域。肽-聚合物偶联物是一类包含肽序列（氨基酸的特定排列）偶联到聚合物的生物材料，可用于改善这些生物医学应用。一些肽排列成纤维或穿透细胞膜，偶联聚合物将允许引入肽不具备的额外特性。这项研究将与Sebastien Perrier博士合作，研究各种肽和聚合物的偶联效率，Sebastien Perrier博士领导着澳大利亚莫纳什大学最成功的肽-聚合物偶联物合成研究实验室之一。多肽能够自组装成纤维和薄片，除了通过明智地选择氨基酸序列穿透细胞膜。在肽序列的任何一端包含聚合物允许引入氨基酸不具有的附加功能。这允许潜在的生物功能的改善或药物的运输。该项目将研究一系列已知的自组装、凝胶化或穿透细胞膜的肽，以及阴离子或疏水聚合物，以帮助生物矿化或药物输送。利用不同的？click？化学或偶联途径将被研究。NSF EAPSI奖是与澳大利亚科学院合作资助的。

Improving the fields of tissue engineering and drug/gene delivery is of great interest because these areas are expected to have a significant impact in the medical field and the quality of life for many people. Of particular interest are: healing rates of tissue injuries, the synthesis of frameworks that organ tissue can be grown on, and side effects from inefficient drug delivery, among other areas. Peptide-polymer conjugates, which are a class of biomaterials that contain a peptide sequence (a specific arrangement of amino acids) coupled to a polymer, can be used to improve these biomedical applications. Some peptides arrange into fibers or penetrate cellular membranes, and coupling a polymer will allow for additional properties to be introduced that the peptides do not possess. This research will investigate the coupling efficiency of a variety of peptides and polymers in collaboration with Dr. Sebastien Perrier, who leads one of the most successful research laboratories for synthesis of peptide-polymer conjugates in Monash University in Australia. Peptides are capable of self-assembling into fibers and sheets, in addition to penetrating cellular membranes by judicious choice of amino acid sequence. The inclusion of a polymer to either end of the peptide sequence allows for additional functionality to be introduced that amino acids do not possess. This allows for potential improvement of biological functions or the transport of drugs. This project will investigate a series of peptides that are known to self-assemble and undergo gelation or penetrate cellular membranes, and polymers that are either anionic or hydrophobic to aid in biomineralization or drug delivery. The conjugation efficiency between the proposed peptides and polymers using various ?click? chemistry or conjugation pathways will be investigated. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Science.