CCI Phase II: Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology

As part of the proposed Phase II NSF CCI, the Geiger group at Northwestern University plans to: Collect, analyze, and interpret vibrational and electronic second- and third-order spectroscopic spectra and images of lipid bilayer model systems in the presence and absence of engineered nanoparticles described in the CCI proposal. We will address the following scientific questions: a. How do nanoparticles influence the molecular structure and order of lipid bilayers, and what solution environment conditions can promote or prevent such expected structural changes? b. What is the spatial and temporal distribution of nanoparticles at lipid bilayer/aqueous interfaces? Is it monomodal or multimodal, i.e. are there different binding interactions? c. What are the kinetics and thermodynamics of nanoparticle interaction with the lipid bilayer, and what are the kinetics and thermodynamics of the structural changes hypothesized to occur when nanoparticles interact with lipid bilayer/aqueous interfaces? d. Having access to accurate lineshapes, how can we use the vibrational spectra to learn about vibrational energy relaxation as a probe for molecular interactions? In addition, PI Geiger will play a leading role in advising graduate and undergraduate students to analyze the resulting measurements.