UC Irvine

The focus of this paper is optimizing multivalent bond potential between antibody-coated nanoparticles to their respective receptor sites to create a nanoparticle diagnostic/drug/gene delivery system with high targeting efficacy. In recent work with Haun lab, a computational simulation of nanoparticle binding—formally the Nano Adhesive Dynamics (NAD)—was developed to simulate multivalent binding behavior between a nanoparticle decorated with antibodies and a planar surface covered in receptor targets. One of the main findings was that nanoparticles induced large forces on bonds which caused rupture. Rupture was primarily attributed to Brownian motion. Nanospring linker flagelliform—derived from spider silk—and biosensors HP35 and HP35st were chosen for study. HP35 and HP35st were successfully cloned and inserted into a pRS expression vector developed in previous work.