CBET: Probing the Effects of Nanoparticle Morphology and Density in Bacterial Adhesion on Bioinspired Nanometallic Arrays.

波多黎各大学马亚圭兹分校的马尔科·德·耶稣博士和他的团队将对自然产生的和经工程改造的金属纳米结构进行生物启发，以更深入地了解细菌如何与纳米级表面相互作用，这些表面的形态比微生物更小。研究人员将对影响细菌黏附和定植的结构参数进行评估，以设计具有受控生物黏附性能的新材料，用于生物医学和环境应用。该团队将与橡树岭国家实验室纳米相材料科学中心合作，评估细胞在金属纳米颗粒阵列上的黏附和定植性能。这些研究的结果有可能影响到国家关注的领域，包括建造先进的生物传感器、医疗设备和细胞移植应用。该项目将为纳米技术、化学传感和生物分析化学方面的不同本科生和研究生提供跨学科的培训和研究机会。该项目将涉及至少两名研究生和六名本科生。这个项目将提高我们目前对生物活性物质如何与纳米材料在液/固界面上相互作用的理解。具体地说，德·耶稣博士和他的团队将与橡树岭国家实验室纳米相材料科学中心合作，评估表面形态和堆积密度如何影响细菌细胞附着和定植纳米结构表面的能力。该团队特别感兴趣的是，这些性质对细菌制剂的吸附和有效结合的影响，从而开发出可伸缩和可转移的纳米结构。这些纳米结构可用于抑制医疗设备和植入物中的病原体增殖，并改善生物传感和受控细胞黏附应用中的细菌结合。通过竞争结合实验和多变量拉曼分析，该团队将确定混合化学试剂表面相互作用的结构依赖性，以阐明混合化学试剂的表面选择性和实际定量混合物的趋势。该项目的成功完成将为合理设计具有特定生物应用特性的纳米材料提供新的进展。该项目将为波多黎各大学马亚圭斯分校的不同群体的本科生和研究生提供应用于生化系统的纳米技术的研究和培训机会，研究生将直接接触到纳米相材料科学中心的最先进设施。该项目由化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统(CBET)部门的纳米级相互作用计划和既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Dr. Marco De Jesus and his group at the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez will adapt bioinspired replicas of naturally occurring and engineered metal nanostructures to gain a deeper understanding of how bacteria interact with nanoscale surfaces whose morphologies are smaller than microorganisms. The investigators will perform an assessment of the structural parameters which influence bacterial adhesion and colonization to devise new materials with controlled bio-adhesive properties for biomedical and environmental applications. In collaboration with the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the team will assess the performance of cellular adhesion and colonization onto metal nanoparticle arrays. Results of these studies have the potential to impact areas of national interest including the construction of advanced biosensors, medical devices, and cellular grafting applications. The project will provide interdisciplinary training and research opportunities to a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students in nanotechnology, chemical sensing, and bioanalytical chemistry. The project will involve at least two graduate and six undergraduate students.This project will improve our current understanding of how bioactive agents interact with nanomaterials at the liquid/solid interface. Specifically, in collaboration with the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dr. De Jesus and his team will assess how surface morphology and packing density influence the ability of bacterial cells to attach and colonize nanostructured surfaces. The team is particularly interested in the impact of these properties on the sorption and effective binding of bacterial agents towards the development of scalable and transferable nanostructures. These nanostructures can be used to inhibit pathogen proliferation in medical devices and implants and to improve bacterial binding for biosensing and controlled cell adhesion applications. Using competitive binding experiments and multivariate Raman analysis, the team will identify the structural dependence of surface interactions of mixed chemical agents to elucidate surface selectivity and trends for practical quantitation of mixtures. The successful completion of this project will provide new advances toward the rational design of nanomaterials with tailored properties for specific biological applications. The project will provide research and training opportunities for a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez in nanotechnology applied to biochemical systems, with direct exposure of the graduate students to state-of-the-art facilities at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. This project is jointly funded by the Nanoscale Interactions Program in the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.