Membrane Functionalized Nanoparticles for Ligand Screening

放射性同位素（RI）标记仍然是药物发现应用的关键工具，特别是用于测量 传统光学显微镜或电化学方法检测不到的分析物。药物发现 应用需要对感兴趣的化合物进行最小的扰动，防止使用大的标记， 显著改变化合物的结构和性质，特别是对于小分子。RI标签 在高灵敏度检测小分子酶等多种化合物中发挥重要作用 抑制剂、受体激动剂和拮抗剂、碳水化合物和碳水化合物衍生物、蛋白质，以及许多 他人RI有利于高灵敏度检测，对分析物的大小和结构的干扰最小， 与荧光标记相比，荧光标记是药物发现应用中特别重要的性质。RI标签提供 配体-受体结合分析的无与伦比的灵敏度和精确度，包括G蛋白偶联受体 测定。不幸的是，大多数常见的生物学相关RI的低能量和短穿透深度 也使检测复杂化，限制了这种方法的能力。 闪烁纳米技术公司成立于2018年，围绕一系列正在申请专利的放射性同位素， 反应灵敏的混合纳米材料。它克服了传统放射性同位素的几个关键限制， 计数方法闪烁纳米技术公司开发了一种新的纳米材料，称为nanoSPA， 灵敏地检测细胞内环境中的低能放射性同位素。nanoSPA提供了许多 与用于成像小分子的其它方法相比的优点，包括a）增强的与 水性样品; B）高表面积与体积（SA/V）比，以增强β-颗粒检测; c）容易地 用于附着生物分子和其他化学物质的改性表面; d）更可再现的表面 化学. 在SBIR应用中，我们建议进一步开发nanoSPA，重点是增强表面 使用各种急需的表面官能度进行官能化，并表征所得的 nanoSPA材料的关键定量标准，以证明关键商业 这个平台的潜力。一旦开发成功，nanoSPA将为以下方面提供重要的新工具： 生物医学研究

Radioisotope (RI) labels remain a critical tool for drug discovery applications, particularly for measuring analytes that are not detectable by traditional optical microscopy or electrochemical methods. Drug discovery applications require minimal perturbation of the compounds of interest, preventing the use of large labels that significantly change the structure and properties of the compounds, particularly for small molecules. RI labels play a fundamental role in the high-sensitivity detection of compounds as diverse as small molecule enzyme inhibitors, receptor agonists and antagonists, carbohydrates and carbohydrate derivatives, proteins, and many others. RIs facilitate highly sensitive detection with minimal perturbation of the size and structure of the analyte, compared to fluorescent labels, a particularly important property in drug discovery applications. RI labels provide unparalleled sensitivity and precision for ligand-receptor binding assays, including G-protein coupled receptor assays. Unfortunately, the low energy and short penetration depth of most common, biologically relevant RIs also complicate detection, limiting the capabilities for this approach. Scintillation Nanotechnologies, INC was founded in 2018 around a series of patent-pending, radioisotope- responsive, hybrid nanomaterials. that overcome several key limitations associated with traditional radioisotope counting methods. Scintillation Nanotechnologies has developed a novel nanomaterial, termed nanoSPA, for sensitive detection of low-energy radioisotopes in intracellular environments. nanoSPA presents a number of advantages compared to other methods for imaging small molecules, including a) enhanced compatibility with aqueous samples; b) a high-surface area to volume (SA/V) ratio to enhance β-particle detection; c) an easily modified surface for attachment of biomolecules and other chemical species; d) more reproducible surface chemistry. In this SBIR application, we propose to further develop nanoSPA with an emphasis on enhanced surface functionalization using a diverse range of critically needed surface functionalities and to characterize the resulting nanoSPA materials with respect to key quantitative criteria necessary to demonstrate the key commercial potential of this platform. Once successfully developed, nanoSPA will provide an important new tool for biomedical research.