Synthesis of Viromimetic Strain Sensors

Viruses are naturally occurring nanoparticles that are promising candidates for drug delivery and targeting purposes. The mechanical properties of these soft nanoparticles have extensively been studied in vitro. Some viruses are known to modulate their mechanical properties during their life cycle for enhanced efficiency of infectivity. However, there are no experimental methods to measure virus deformations in vivo. The focus of my work is to create strain sensors which will allow us to monitor virus deformations upon interaction with a cell in real time. Here, I will present details of the synthesis of virus-like particles (VLPs) encapsulating multiple optically active nanoparticles (NPs) and propose the assembly mechanism for these self-assembled multicore VLPs. The use of optically active NPs is necessary for correlating the evolution of their collective optical response to configurational changes of VLPs with the aid of single particle optical microscopy. In addition to this, I will also demonstrate a strain sensor design based on multichromophore VLPs with improved dynamic range in comparison to multicore VLPs. Once fully optimized, such VLP-based deformation probes will provide new experimental tools for analysis of the mechanism of virus translocation in the confines of a host cell which will be beneficial for the advancement of drug delivery systems based on viruses