| Summary: |
Recently a major breaktrough was achieved in the formulation of polymeric artificial nanocapsules. Such capsules can now be made in a reproducible manner having a specific size, shape and in reasonable quantities. This opens a new field of intelligent material with possible sophisticated applications. We expect to bring this research field from the level of basic science to possible application. To achieve this goal we develop the necessary techniques and combine expertise from different fields and laboratories. The first step to allow specific applications is to functionalize the nanocapsules by coating the surface with active sites or to inserting them into the wall. One possible direction is to cover them with lipid membranes providing an artificial cell. We combine these novel technique with recent developments in molecular biology. We will take advantage of natural proteins already optimized by nature for specific tasks and if necessary we will modify them by genetic engineering to adopt them for other purpose. E.g. such nanospheres can harvest specific substrates or release at a specific site encapsulated materials. A second aspect is that these nanocapsules provide a new class of surfaces which will allow to study molecular interactions of surface attached proteins. These studies will permit new types of measurements and provide thus new inside of protein-protein or protein-ligand interaction. |