Hybrid Nanoprobes Of Peptide-Functionalized Quantum Dots And Magnetic Nanocrystals, Interfaced Via Amphiphilic Multifunctional Polymer Ligands

化学系的大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目获得这一奖项，资助佛罗里达州立大学的Hedi Mattoussi博士和Debra Fadool博士开发策略，对无机纳米材料进行表面修饰，使其能够与生物系统结合。这将产生可用于探测特定生物物种和监测目标生物过程的系统，而不会影响宿主系统的完整性。为了实现这一目标，将设计新的多功能聚合物，这些聚合物与各种纳米材料强烈协调，提供易于引入生物介质/系统的水兼容纳米探针。佛罗里达州立大学的这项工作提供了一个很好的例子，说明纳米技术被用来解决生物学中的重要问题。本项目本质上是跨学科的，它为研究生和本科生提供了在纳米晶体的生长和功能化、多肽设计和合成、蛋白质表达和其他几种分析技术等领域的培训机会。Mattoussi教授和他的同事还将向本科生开展推广活动，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生。该项目专注于开发两亲性聚合物作为表面配体，可以紧密配合到无机纳米材料的表面，包括磁性纳米颗粒、发光量子点和金纳米颗粒。化学设计利用亲核加成反应的有效性，允许在同一聚合物平台上同时插入亲水性部分、金属配位基团和反应官能团。通过在相同的两亲性聚合物中结合具有亲水性和生物活性的多个锚基，我们的设计将增强配体与纳米粒子的结合，同时促进它们与各种目标分子的偶联。这种方法将允许量子点和磁性纳米晶连接到几个目标分子上，包括多巴胺和镁毒素(MGTx)肽。这些结合物将用于开发特定的生物传感器。特别是，QD-多巴胺结合物将提供在体外和细胞培养中靶向铁离子和富含半胱氨酸的蛋白质的平台。类似地，纳米颗粒-MgTx偶联物将被用来控制通过二尖瓣细胞Kv1.3钾通道的电流。

With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division is funding Drs. Hedi Mattoussi and Debra Fadool at the Florida State University to develop strategies to modify the surfaces of inorganic nanomaterials so that they can bind with biological systems. This will yield systems that can be used to probe specific biological species and monitor targeted biological processes without affecting the integrity of the host system. To meet this goal, new multifunctional polymers that strongly coordinate onto various nanomaterials will be designed, providing water-compatible nanoprobes that are easy to introduce into biological media/systems. The work at Florida State University provides a good example where nanotechnology is used to address important problems in biology. The present project is interdisciplinary in nature and it provides opportunities for training graduate and undergraduate students in areas such as growth and functionalization of nanocrystals, peptide design and synthesis, protein expression, and several other analytical techniques. Prof. Mattoussi and co-workers will also carry out outreach activities to undergraduate students, including students from underrepresented groups.The project focuses on developing amphiphilic polymers as surface ligands that can tightly coordinate onto the surfaces of inorganic nanomaterials, including magnetic nanoparticles, luminescent quantum dots and gold nanoparticles. The chemical design exploits the effectiveness of the nucleophilic addition reaction to allow the simultaneous insertion of hydrophilic moieties, metal-coordinating groups and reactive functions on the same polymer platform. By combining multi-anchoring groups with hydrophilic and biologically-reactive functionalities in the same amphiphilic polymer, our design will enhance the ligand-to-nanoparticle binding, while facilitating their coupling to various target molecules. This approach will allow conjugation of QDs and magnetic nanocrystals to several target molecules, including dopamine and the margatoxin (MgTx) peptide. These resulting conjugates will be used to develop specific biosensors. In particular QD-dopamine conjugates will provide platforms that can target iron ions and cysteine-rich proteins in vitro and in cell cultures. Similarly, nanoparticle-MgTx conjugates will be used to control the current flow through the Kv1.3 potassium channels of mitral cells.