Engineering Nanomaterial Surfaces for Biomedical Applications

Nanomaterials, possessing unique physical and chemical properties, have attracted much interest and generated wide varieties of applications. Recent investigations of functionalized nanomaterials have expanded into the biological area, providing a versatile platform in biomedical applications such as biomolecular sensing, biological imaging, drug delivery and disease therapy. Bio-functions and bio-compatibility of nanomaterials are realized by introducing synthetic ligands or natural biomolecules onto nanomaterials, and combining ligand-receptor biological interactions with intrinsic nanomaterial properties. Common strategies of engineering nanomaterial surfaces involve physisorption or chemisorption of desired ligands. We developed a photochemically initiated surface coupling chemistry, bringing versatility and simplicity to nanomaterial functionalization. The method was applied to attach underivatized carbohydrates efficiently on gold and iron oxide nanoparticles, and the resulting glyconanoparticles were successfully used as a sensitive biosensing system probing specific interactions between carbohydrates and proteins as well as bacteria.