Nanoparticle Materials as Chemical and Biological Tools for Peptides and Proteins

蛋白质是一种极其重要的生物分子，几乎参与了每一个生物过程。虽然在水环境中结合多肽和蛋白质的合成材料是非常理想的，但由于生物多肽的复杂性，它们很难生产。爱荷华州立大学赵岩教授的研究小组开发了用于肽序列特异性识别的新型抗体模拟聚合物纳米颗粒。这些材料有望在化学和生物学领域得到广泛应用，包括鉴定阿尔茨海默病的功能残基、酶催化的调节以及肽和蛋白质的纯化。该研究通过让学生接触生物材料科学、物理有机化学、超分子化学和聚合物化学的广泛技能，将他们培养成专业科学家。蛋白质是一种极其重要的生物分子，几乎参与了每一个生物过程。虽然在竞争性水环境中结合多肽和蛋白质的合成材料在化学和生物学上有许多应用，但由于客体的复杂性、某些氨基酸之间的细微结构差异以及在水中分子识别的困难，它们很难生产。该项目由材料研究部生物材料计划资助，支持爱荷华州立大学赵岩教授开发用于肽序列特异性识别的抗体模拟聚合物纳米颗粒。该材料是在交联表面活性剂胶束内通过分子印迹制备的，并且可以系统地调节其分子识别。由于能够区分密切相关的氨基酸残基，它们可以用来探测长肽中特定序列的功能作用，以及酶催化相关的柔性环。通过对多肽的强而可调的结合，它们可以从复杂的混合物中轻松纯化多肽和蛋白质。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

PART 1: NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYProteins are extremely important biomolecules involved in practically every biological process. Although synthetic materials that bind peptides and proteins in aqueous environments are highly desirable, they are difficult to produce due to complexity of biological peptides. The research group of Professor Yan Zhao at Iowa State University develops novel antibody-mimicking polymeric nanoparticles for sequence-specific recognition of peptides. These materials are expected to enable numerous applications in chemistry and biology including identification of functional residues responsible for Alzheimer’s disease, regulation of enzymatic catalysis, and purification of peptides and proteins. The research trains student researchers into professional scientists by exposing them to a wide range of skills in biomaterials science, physical organic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, and polymer chemistry.PART 2: TECHNICAL SUMMARYProteins are extremely important biomolecules involved in practically every biological process. Although synthetic materials that bind peptides and proteins in competitive aqueous environments have numerous applications in chemistry and biology, they are difficult to produce because of complexity of the guest, subtle structural differences among some amino acids, and difficulty in molecular recognition in water. This project, funded by the Biomaterials Program of the Division of Materials Research, supports Professor Yan Zhao of Iowa State University to develop antibody-mimicking polymeric nanoparticles for sequence-specific recognition of peptides. The materials are prepared through molecular imprinting within cross-linked surfactant micelles and can be tuned systematically in their molecular recognition. With abilities to distinguish closely related amino acid residues, they can be used to probe functional roles of specific sequences in a long peptide, as well as flexible loops catalytically relevant in an enzyme. By their strong and tunable binding for peptides, they enable facile purification of peptides and proteins from complex mixtures.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.