Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar: Maximizing Nano-Bio Interfacial Chemistry

FFCEP Chemistry Research Seminar
Maximizing Nano-Bio Interfacial Chemistry

Dr. Roxana Coreas
UC Berkeley

Event Details: Nanotechnology, which adapts nanomaterials with precisely tailored physicochemical properties, has advanced modern medicine through innovative applications, including targeted drug delivery, sensitive diagnostics, and next-generation therapeutics. More recently, nanotechnology has emerged as a transformative approach to support sustainable agriculture and meet projected global food demand under climate constraints, by leveraging nano-tools, such as nano-carriers for genetic crop fortification.
Despite the prolific adoption of nanotechnology, the intrinsic interactions between nanomaterials and endogenous biomolecules within biological systems remain underexplored. These spontaneous interactions lead to the formation of a “biomolecular corona”—a complex, heterogenous adlayer comprised of proteins, lipids, and metabolites—that dictates nanomaterials’ biodistribution and efficacy. Thus, to optimize the effectiveness of nanotechnology, it is essential to maximize the biomolecular corona through a mechanistic understanding of kinetic processes that govern corona formation, thermodynamic binding hierarchies, and nanoscale interfacial fluctuations that modulate biological impacts.
In this 2-part work, the protein composition of the biomolecular corona of distinct nanomaterials are characterized to (1) advance our understanding of the interplay between nanoparticle surface properties and protein adsorption dynamics for biomedical applications, and (2) harness nano-bio interactions as a sensitive bioanalytical tool for biomarker detection in agricultural contexts.
For the first part, we prepared a library of DNA nanostructures with varying physicochemical properties to investigate the relationship between their design features and the composition of the protein corona formed in human serum. Our proteomic results found that proteins preferentially adsorbed on DNA nanostructures through surface modification mediation. We then trained machine learning algorithms to predict DNA nanostructure-coronas and elucidate the factors that impact protein corona formation. Our models achieved >90% accuracy and we found that more than 150 features contributed to protein corona formation, underscoring the vast convolution of nanomaterial-corona complexes. For the second part, we developed a high-resolution nano-omics tool that detected early stress biomarkers in pathogen infected agricultural crops—days before the onset of visible phenotypic symptoms. By leveraging the interactions between gold nanoparticles and plant protein coronas, our approach identified temporally resolved stress signatures, including pathogenesis-related markers, oxidative stress mediators, and defensive enzymes. Notably, our nano-omics approach also detected unique systemic biomarkers in distal plant tissues that were never directly exposed to the pathogen, suggesting the presence of long-range stress signaling mechanisms. Overall, these findings elucidate the relationships between nanomaterials and proteins at the nanoscale, which aim to guide the rational design of nanotechnology for human health and precision agriculture.

Bio: Dr. Roxana Coreas is an interdisciplinary postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where she investigates the interfacial biochemistry of nanomaterial-biological complexes, termed the biomolecular corona, to enhance the efficacy of nanotechnology for biomedical and agricultural applications. Recognized for her innovative research to advancing nanoscience, she is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow (PRFB), a Burroughs Wellcome Fund PDEP scholar, and an American Chemical Society CAS Future Leader awardee. Her future interests include establishing an independent research laboratory focused on developing innovative nanotechnology to advance human health and sustainable agriculture and fostering positive mentorship that empowers the next generation of researchers in biochemical engineering. Her goal is to cultivate equitable and accessible learning environments, both in the lab and the classroom, that inspire innovation and diversity in STEM.

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