Rational Design and Development of Protein-Nanomaterials Interactions for Personalized Medicine

纳米材料和纳米技术的快速发展正在影响着21世纪许多其他领域的革命。新兴的纳米医疗设备可能会提供创造性的解决方案，以支持需要靶向治疗和快速实时诊断的“个性化医学”。然而，缺乏在纳米尺度上操纵所设计的纳米结构和生物物质的知识和技术，阻碍了新的纳米材料和纳米技术在个性化医学中的充分潜力的实现。为了克服这些困难，我们需要清楚地了解先进的纳米结构和蛋白质之间的不同界面，它们在维持生物系统的健康方面发挥着关键作用。 因此，拟议的NSERC发现资助计划的长期目标是深入了解纳米结构和蛋白质之间的界面，以制造强大的纳米医疗设备，并满足“个性化医学”的需求。拟议的研究活动将以以下三个短期目标进行：(1)开发与蛋白质结合的新的多功能纳米结构；(2)设计新的纳米结构与蛋白质之间的接口，以建立检测涉及蛋白质的反应的灵敏生物传感器；(3)设计和开发用于靶向蛋白质治疗的高效热感纳米系统。 这项拟议的NSERC发现资助计划的更广泛影响包括：a)它将弥合纳米技术和生物系统之间的知识鸿沟；b)它将开发新的制造方法，以有效地制造纳米医疗设备，并可能在提供“个性化医学”方面改变传统制造业；c)在NSERC发现资助计划的资金支持下，学员将参与具有挑战性的研究项目，获得纳米生物技术的理论知识，并通过将生物分子集成到先进的纳米材料来开发纳米医疗设备的扎实实践经验。

The rapid development of nanomaterials and nanotechnology has been influencing the revolution of many other fields in the 21st century. Emerging nanomedical devices may offer creative solutions to support the “personalized medicine” which requires targeted therapeutics along with quick and real-time diagnosis. However, the lack of knowledge and techniques in manipulating the designed nanostructures and living matters at nanoscales hinders the realization of full potential of new nanomaterials and nanotechnology in personalized medicine. To overcome these difficulties, we need to clearly understand the different interfaces between advanced nanostructures and proteins which play key roles in maintaining the health of a biological system. Consequently, the long-term goal of the proposed NSERC Discovery Grant program is to develop a profound understanding of the interfaces between nanostructures and proteins for fabricating robust nanomedical devices and meeting the needs of “personalized medicine”. The proposed research activities will be conducted with following three short-term goals: (1) to develop new multifunctional nanostructures incorporating with proteins; (2) to design the interface between new nanostructures and proteins for building sensitive biosensors to detect protein-involved reactions; (3) to design and develop efficient theranostic nanosystems for targeted protein therapeutics. The broader impacts of this proposed NSERC Discovery Grant program include: a) it will bridge the knowledge gap between nanotechnology and biological system; b) it will develop new manufacturing approaches to effectively build nanomedical devices, and may transform the conventional manufacturing industries in delivering “personalized medicine”; c) With the financial support of NSERC Discovery Grant, trainees will be involved in the challenging research projects to gain both theoretical knowledge in nanobiotechnology and solid hands-on experiences in developing nanomedical devices through integrating biomolecules into advanced nanomaterials.