REU Site: Glyco-Tree - Glycomaterial Training, Research and Education Experiences

Non-technical Summary Glycomaterials is a term that broadly encompasses sugars and larger molecules derived from sugars. Applications of glycomaterials include structural products such as lumber, textiles, biofuels (derived from corn and wood), food additives, and nutrition. Glycomaterials also play important roles in biology including immune response, cell-to-cell communication and as a fundamental component of DNA. Nonetheless, understanding these materials has historically been challenging because their chemical structures are complex and resistant to standard methods of characterization. In 2020, the National Science Foundation funded GlycoMIP, a Materials Innovation Platform (MIP) at Virginia Tech and partner institutions, to concentrate expertise in characterization, modeling, and synthesis of glycomaterials with state-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation. Virginia Tech will host a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site that leverages GlycoMIP to afford undergraduate students with team-based research projects, participation in GlycoMIP Summer School, a week-long dive into glycomaterial characterization, modeling and synthesis, and leadership opportunities through Youth Experiencing Science (YES), a K-12 summer outreach program at Virginia Tech. This REU program will fill a critical need of growing the next generation of glycoscience leaders who will deliver future innovations on technologies ubiquitous in our daily lives. Technical Summary This proposal has four structured team-based research areas for undergraduate students: (1) Glycan-based polymer blend compatibilizers – Taking advantage of the reducing end of a polysaccharide chain, block copolymers of glycans will be synthesized to compatibilize blends of carbohydrate-based and non-carbohydrate-based thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers with subsequent characterization of the dispersion by small angle light scattering and determination of mechanical properties by dynamic mechanical analysis and Instron testing; (2) Mesoscale modeling of glycopolymers – Solutions and gels of glycopolymers will be characterized by dilute solution viscometry and rotatory and oscillatory rheometry to test mesoscale models being developed to explain and predict shear viscosity and regions of linear viscoelastic behavior; (3) Glycomaterials that interact with biomolecules – Glycomaterials comprised of synthetic polymer backbones and defined glycan side chains will be synthesized with modern polymerization techniques to control molar mass and chain topology through post-polymerization modification and direct polymerization of macromonomers. Interactions of the polymers with enzymes and glycan binding proteins will be probed by surface plasmon resonance and quartz crystal microbalance studies; (4) Advancing chiroptical methods of glycoanalytics – Vibrational circular dichroism and Raman optical activity spectroscopy will be used to characterize chiral glycans in solution. Spectra will be compared to predictions from theoretical tools being developed that combine results of molecular dynamic simulations and quantum chemical calculations. This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.