The overarching goal of this research thrust is to formulate structure-property relationships for the biological impact of engineered nanoparticles and to apply these relationships to the design of new materials with tailored properties. By studying the potential toxicological effects of nanoparticles before they are incorporated into technologies we can minimize negative consequences of a growing nanotechnology and promote sustainability. Because nanoparticles are key building blocks for applications in chemical/biological sensing, nanoelectronics, quantum computing, and nanophotonics they are likely to be widely distributed throughout the environment. By using a library of structurally and compositionally well-defined nanoparticles in conjunction with biological assays that examine multiple aspects of cellular and organismal health, it will be possible to identify those that cause harm and develop structure-property relationships to feed back into product design.
Expanded libraries of precisely engineered nanoparticles
This research group focuses on the design of new routes to nanomaterials using feedback from biological impact studies to reduce their toxicity and proposes to expand the current library of nanoparticles for investigation of biological interactions to; (a) develop a diverse array of functionalized gold nanoparticles with a variety of core sizes; (b) develop precise libraries of compound semiconductor nanoparticles and purification methods; and (c) continue exploration of the use of naturally occurring lipids to control nanoparticle shape and size.
Synthesis and
surface modification of nanoparticles - develop biologically safer
nanoparticles while also directing self-assembly reactions and
optimizing interactions with devices
Direct synthesis methods and ligand exchange
methods are used to prepare metal nanoparticles with desired specificity.
Given that the first contact between a nanoparticle and a biological
system is the outer surface of the nanoparticle, a strong emphasis
is being placed on approaches to tailor the composition and structure
of the exterior ligand shell in order to design safer nanoparticulate
materials and tuning the electronic or optical coupling. Approaches
involving synthetic, biological and photo-crosslinkable ligands
are being explored.
Probe the biological impacts of functionalized nanoparticles
Biological assays have been established to link the physical, chemical, and geometric properties of structurally well-defined functionalized nanoparticles to their function in biological systems. The biological assays give information on nanoparticle movement and tissue accumulation, changes in gene expression in response to nanoparticle interaction with the cellular environment, and subsequent alterations to organismal viability and development. Individual nanoparticles are tracked in real time through live cells to examine the fate of nanoparticles in cultured. The data from these tracking studies will augment the ongoing in vivo and in vitro toxicity screenings.
Computational and analytic tools to support the development of environmentally-benign nanomaterials
There is a paucity of data on nanoparticle characterization and toxicity or a means for disseminating new data. Many government agencies have called for a method to catalog the anticipated accumulation of data on nanoparticles into a relatively easy searchable database. This research group focuses on the development of a collaborative knowledgebase of Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions (NBI) that is systematically linked to related data/knowledgebases. NBI will serve as a repository for annotated data on nanomaterial-biological interactions. Relevant computational, analytic and data mining tools will be integrated and/or developed to extract useful knowledge from diverse datasets on nanomaterial characterization, synthesis methods and nanomaterial-biological interactions defined at multiple levels of biological organizations.
Faculty involved in this thrust:
Karen Guillemin [University of Oregon]
Stacey Harper [Oregon State University]
James Hutchison [University of Oregon]
Eric Johnson [University of Oregon]
Shiwoo Lee [Oregon State University]
Mark Lonergan [University of Oregon]
Gayla Orr [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory]
Scott Reed [Portland State University]
Robert Tanguay [Oregon State University]
Marvin Warner [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory]
Mingdi Yan [Portland State University]
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