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New nanomaterial design principles of macromolecular biomimetics
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Georgiou, Panagiotis (2022) New nanomaterial design principles of macromolecular biomimetics. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3884012~S15
Abstract
Nature has been a source of inspiration for advanced material synthesis through the mimicry of biological functions and natural materials/structures. The aim of this work was to identify the design principles for nanomaterial biomimetics applied in the growing fields of glycobiology and cryobiology. Glycans direct myriad biological processes, from energy storage to pathogen recognition. Multivalent presentation of glycans on particle surfaces is used to increase their affinity towards targets, making them ideal diagnostic probes. While a particular class of proteins, known as ice-binding proteins, IBPs, mediate one of the most complex molecular functions by selectively binding to ice crystals, modulating ice formation and growth. However, how they function and the design rules to identify new synthetic materials are still missing and are subject of many studies. The first part of this work focuses on the synthesis of glyconanoparticle biosensors, showing how glyco-polymer tethers, immobilised onto gold nanoparticle surfaces, can modulate their aggregation response without affecting their overall binding affinity towards lectins. The concepts introduced are then applied in COVID-19 diagnostics, by deploying glycosylated, anisotropic gold nanorods to probe the glycan binding of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The modular nature of this approach highlights their potential to other infections for diagnostics or gaining a basic understanding of pathogen-glycan interactions. The second part of this work explores a variety of polymer nanomaterial architectures capable of mimicking IBPs’ ice recrystallisation inhibition and ice nucleation functions. Polymerisation-induced self-assembly, an easily scalable method attracting significant interest, offered a practical approach to generating a platform of ice growth controlling colloidal dispersions. Finally, a synthetic framework for probing heterogeneous ice nucleation is developed through a library of molecular bottlebrushes with varying grafting densities. Findings emerge from this work are expected to set the groundwork which links structural biological-derived understanding of ice growth to nanomaterial synthesis.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QD Chemistry Q Science > QH Natural history |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Nanostructured materials -- Design, Biomimetics, Macromolecules, Glycomics -- Research, Cryobiology -- Research | ||||
Official Date: | October 2022 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Chemistry | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Gibson, Mathew I. | ||||
Sponsors: | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions | ||||
Extent: | Xxxix, 370 pages : illustrations, charts | ||||
Language: | eng |
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