Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2019-2020).

There is a dramatically increasing world demand for green, sustainable biomaterials to enhance thex000D
performance of functional foods, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products.x000D
PhytoSpherix(TM) is one such material, an all-natural, high-tech additive which can add value to manyx000D
products in each of these markets. PhytoSpherix is comprised of nanoparticles made from joining manyx000D
glucose (sugar) molecules together in a branching fashion. They are essentially tiny balls of starch that serve asx000D
a form of energy storage in plants. They are thus not only biodegradable but biocompatible - they are ingestedx000D
when one eats sweet corn! PhystoSpherix particles have many useful properties such as the ability to absorbx000D
and retain a great deal of water and to modify the viscosity of a liquid when used as an additive. However, asx000D
they are very small and soft, it is difficult to resolve the structural details of the nanoparticles experimentally. Inx000D
this grant we will use computer simulations to grow, simulate, and characterize the particle structure. Althoughx000D
the particles are small (on the order of 50 nm), they are still comprised of many atoms making detailedx000D
simulations very difficult. We will thus employ coarse-grained approaches at two different levels to model thex000D
nanoparticles: a very coarse-grained approach in which each glucose molecule is modeled as one bead and anx000D
atomistic-based coarse-grained approach that retains some of the chemical features of glucose. In addition tox000D
characterizing the structure, we will also use modeling at both levels to explore the dynamics of smallx000D
molecules within the particles. Combining results across these different levels will give both fundamentalx000D
insight into the nature of carbohydrate-bases dendritic materials which will be of great value in the fields ofx000D
polymer science and bio-nanomaterials. This work is performed in collaboration with Mirexus Biotechnologiesx000D
and the knowledge that is generated will provide essential information for the development of new applicationsx000D
of PhytoSpherix particles such as drug and supplement delivery. This will fuel the growth of Mirexus as ax000D
Canadian research intensive company that hires highly qualified scientific and engineering personnel.