The Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN) program will support the research program of Prof. Catherine Murphy of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prof. Murphy and her students will study how to modify the surface of gold nanoparticles and nanorods with ligands and proteins to form objects that will be recognized by cells as natural proteins. Achieving this goal requires significant increase in our ability to control ligand orientation and coverage on the surface of gold nanostructures. The study could lead to the development of new and improved nanometric carriers with the capability to selectively deliver drugs into cells. The use of plasmonic forces to heat the gold nanostructures could facilitate controlled release of drugs into the cells. The study will provide excellent training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students in the cutting edge research area of nanobiotechnology.
There are many potential biological applications of colloidal nanoparticles, including chemical sensing, biological imaging, and drug delivery. These applications will only be realized, however, if we have a good physical and chemical understanding of what happens at the nanoparticle surface when biological compounds are introduced. In this project, we focused on gold nanoparticles of controlled size and shape, which have unique optical and photothermal properties for sensing, imaging, delivery and even therapy. Several graduate students in the group have been able to perform their Ph.D. work on on these topics; they have created gold nanoparticles and modified the particle surfaces with many different molecular flavors. We have been able to measure how tightly proteins bind to a series of nanoparticles; how these proteins are oriented at the surface of nanoparticles; how to make the nanoparticles look more like natural lipid vesicles; and we have measured cellular uptake of these nanoparticles. We have learned that electrostatics govern much, but not all, of the protein-nanoparticle interaction; that the chemical way molecules are attached to the nanoparticle surface affects their (the molecules') behavior; and we have learned that cells can either speed up or slow down after taking up a large quantity of gold nanoparticles - the reasons for which are still mysterious. Over a dozen undergraduate students were able to gain research experience on this project. Some of them were nonscience students (art, music, etc) who performed "participant-observer" rotations in the laboratory, and were able to incorporate science into their own work. This opportunity to interact with nonscientists enabled the science students to improve their communication skills with the general public. The PI has modified the general chemistry sequence at her institution to include more materials science and synthetic chemistry. She has contributed to campus-wide efforts to introduce more nanotechnology into undergraduate and graduate science and engineering courses. The undergraduate and graduate students trained and educated via this award are successfully going on to other opportunities (industry, small college teaching, national labs, medical school, graduate school).
