NANOSCALE: Engineered Alpha Helices for Pore Transport Regulation

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract Proposal number: BES-9986538 Proposal type: Response to NSF 99-109, Exploratory Research on Biosystems at the Nanoscale Principal investigator: Peter K. Kilpatrick Affiliation: North Carolina State University NANOSCALE: Engineered Alpha Helices for Pore-Transport Regulation This exploratory project investigates the fabrication and efficacy of nanostructured block-copolymer membranes containing helical polymers. The objective is to mimic biological systems in order to achieve high transport selectivity for biological solutes. Various polymeric microstuctures that form helices with varying degrees of hydrophobicity will be synthesized and assembled in planar phospholipid monolayers and in vesicular membranes. The ability of the various structures will be probed to determine their ability to control solute transport through the membranes according the hydrophobicity of the helix periphery and the resulting pore sizes. Transport measurements are being done with radioactive and fluorescent solutes.