This project seeks to improve our current understanding of how bioactive agents interact with nanomaterials at the liquid/solid interface. Specifically, in collaboration with ORNL-CNMS, Dr. De Jesus and his team are assessing how surface morphology and packing density influence the ability of bacterial cells to attach and colonize nanostructured surfaces. The team is particularly interested in the impact of these properties on the sorption and effective binding of bacterial agents with interest in developing scalable and transferable nanostructures that can either inhibit pathogen proliferation in medical devices and implants or improve bacterial binding for biosensing and controlled cell adhesion applications. Using competitive binding experiments and multivariate Raman analysis, they seek to identify the structural dependence of surface interactions of mixed chemical agents to elucidate surface selectivity and trends for practical quantitation of mixtures. The successful completion of this project will provide new advances toward the rational design of nanomaterials with tailored properties for specific biological applications. The work provides research and training opportunities for a diverse group of UPRM undergraduate and graduate students in nanotechnology applied to biochemical systems, with direct exposure of the graduate students to state-of-the-art facilities at CNMS.
- Professor: Marco A De Jesus Ruiz