CAREER: Developing Peptide Amphiphiles into Next-Generation Electronic Materials and Model Systems to Study Protein Functions

Non Technical Abstract:

This convergent research project seeks to create new advanced technologies to address the increasing demand for faster, smaller, more efficient integrated circuits by utilizing a protein-based fiber (termed a “PA”) for more effective electron transport. The results of such work will open the door for a new wave of electronic materials with advanced circuitry characteristics and capabilities, allowing many of the electronics used each day such as cell phones, televisions, and microwaves to become more efficient, compact, and powerful.

Currently, in a simple electronic system, the wire’s only function is to serve as the highway for electrons between transistors or switches. This project will create a new type of electronics containing wires made from the biologically-based PA materials. Rather than just serve as a connector, this new ‘biological wire’ would be an active component of the circuit, directing electron flow between components while also processing information.

This is of significant practical value as the additional functionality would allow us to scale down, reducing components and transistors, while saving power and costs. The educational component seeks to develop a pathway for scientists to use their expertise to affect change on a global scale by training them to be active in science-policy. Through a combination of coursework and internships within the federal government students will see how their science is used to improve people’s lives and how they can use their technical expertise to help the government more effectively carry out its goals.

The award will support the careers and training of the PI (an early career scientist and former AAAS Science and Technology Policy fellow), and a diverse cross-section of students from high school through graduate level of study across various scientific disciplines. The PI and his group will also mentor local undergraduate and high school students through George Mason's highly competitive Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program, connecting a new generation of students to bench science.

The project’s components will involve biochemistry, physics, engineering and policy, providing students with a thorough training regime. Technical Abstract:

The Solomon group proposes to use Peptide Amphiphiles (PAs) to study biological electron transport, which underlies a host of functions from mineral cycling to bioremediation. No sufficient biomimetic model systems exist to study these processes, but one is needed to isolate the core chemical and biophysical principles that drive these functions. PAs are short peptides connected to a lipid tail that polymerize into long fiber structures and bind the natural cofactor heme B.

Due to their simple structure and polymeric character, minute changes are amplified and the core biophysical principles are readily observable, and their synthetic character allows those functions to be exploited in non-natural contexts. Aim one focuses on the peptide; the amino-acid sequence will be changed to measure how different cofactor environments affect electron transport.

Aim two will focus on the lipid, which will be modified such that these PA fibers can self-assemble into discrete sections leading to electrochemical interfaces and gradients. In aim three, heme will be replaced with other redox cofactors to impart new electrochemical functions. Combining the results of these aims will produce a multifunctioning PA fiber that can uncover the core biophysical aspects of many biological electron transport functions.

Additionally, these materials will be developed into electrical wires that incorporate decision-making peptide components and process information, which could lead to new types of bio circuitry with improved computing power. Dr. Solomon’s educational component aims to develop a science-policy curriculum for graduate students.

This certificate program will be built around a combination of lecture material to explain the workings of the government and an internship component where students will apply their scientific training directly to the policy making process. This program will improve student’s understanding of how their work can be integrated into federal policy and improve the government by seeding offices with technical expertise not currently available.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.