A rationale chemical strategy for designing multi-functional nano systems

Chan小组的研究项目围绕金属和半导体纳米颗粒的化学合成和设计，并探索纳米颗粒与血液成分，细胞和组织的相互作用。这两个研究活动与计算分析相结合，可以导致产生的设计规范和指导方针，更合理的方法来化学合成纳米技术的生物应用。我们已经发现纳米颗粒的大小，形状和表面化学是决定结合到纳米颗粒表面的血清蛋白的类型的关键物理化学性质;它们从哺乳动物细胞中的摄取，积累和外生;以及它们相互作用的器官的数量，速率和类型。 这个新兴的研究领域是由Chan集团开创的，并被称为“纳米生物相互作用”。 Chan实验室关于这一主题的研究已发表在顶级化学，纳米技术和工程期刊上，在过去六年中被引用超过13，000次。这些研究表明，纳米技术要有效地用于生物应用，就需要开发能够在不同生物环境中变形的动态纳米系统。一个关键的挑战是阐明如何设计纳米系统，可以改变大小，形状和/或表面化学反应的生物线索，因为不同的物理化学性质可能需要在各种生物环境中的最佳纳米粒子性能。 这个项目将探索形状变化纳米系统的设计。具体来说，Chan小组将通过使用核酸序列组装核心和卫星无机纳米粒子来设计纳米系统。 通过将不同类型的核酸序列放置在核心和卫星纳米颗粒的表面上，并使用接头序列来竞争和重新定位纳米系统内的核心-卫星纳米颗粒，从而导致整体尺寸、形状和表面化学的变化，来设计形状改变。 我们的项目有四个目标：（1）探索形状变化纳米系统的设计，并开发一种光学策略来监测形状变化过程，（2）确定血清蛋白相互作用对形状变化过程的影响，（3）确定纳米系统-细胞相互作用是否可以通过形状改变、改变和介导，以及（4）确定在进入细胞后，纳米系统的形状可以由细胞质中的核酸序列控制。这项研究将为设计动态纳米系统提供一种创新策略，这将导致电子，太阳能电池，生物传感器和生物输送应用的新材料。 这将是纳米技术设计的一个飞跃。**

The Chan group's research program is centred around the chemical synthesis and design of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles and to probe the interactions of nanoparticles with blood components, cells, and tissues. A combination of these two research activities with computational analysis can lead to the generation of design specifications and guidelines for a more rational approach to chemically synthesizing nanotechnologies for biological applications. We have discovered nanoparticle size, shape, and surface chemistry are key physical-chemical properties that determine the type of serum proteins bound to the nanoparticle surface; their uptake, accumulation, and excotyosis from mammalian cells; and the amount, rate, and type of organs with which they interact. This burgeoning research area was pioneered by the Chan group and has been coined "Nano-Bio Interactions". Studies on this topic by the Chan lab have been published in top chemistry, nanotechnology, and engineering journals and have been cited over 13,000 times in the last six years. These studies have suggested that for nanotechnology to be effective for biological applications will require the development of dynamic nanosystems that can morph in different biological environments. A key challenge is to elucidate how to design nanosystems that can change sizes, shapes, and/or surface chemistries in response to biological cues because different physical-chemical properties may be required for optimal nanoparticle performance in various biological environments. This project will explore the design of shape-shifting nanosystems. Specifically, the Chan group will design nanosystems by using nucleic acid sequences to assemble core and satellite inorganic nanoparticles.  Shape-shifting will be designed by placing different types of nucleic acid sequences on the surface of the core and satellite nanoparticles, and using linker sequences to compete and re-position the core-satellite nanoparticles within the nanosystem, leading to change in the overall size, shape, and surface chemistry.  Our project has four aims: (1) to explore the design of shape-shifting nanosystems and to develop an optical strategy to monitor the shape-shifting process, (2) to determine the impact of serum protein interaction on the shape-shifting process, (3) to determine whether nanosystem-cellular interaction can be altered, changed, and mediated by shape, and (4) to determine whether, upon entry into a cell, nanosystem shape can be controlled by nucleic acid sequences in the cellular cytoplasm. This study will provide an innovative strategy to design dynamic nanosystems, which will lead to new materials for electronics, solar cells, biological sensors, and biological delivery applications. This will be a leap forward in the design of nanotechnologies.**