Photosynthetic organisms have evolved unique mechanisms to regulate light absorption through controlled arrangements of dyes called porphyrins within protein and lipid scaffolds. Mimicking these systems to develop efficient dye-based agents for solar energy harvesting has been an active field for many years. We are interested in mimicking the unique photonic properties associated with these natural porphyrin supermolecullar structures to create smart nanophotonics for cancer imaging and therapy.<br/><br/>By mimicking photosynthetic cyanobacteria, we created supramolecular assemblies of highly ordered porphyrin aggregates that possess stimuli-responsive photonic properties (e.g., reversible and tunable photoacoustic sensing and self-regulating photothermal therapy). By learning how porphyrins organize into highly orderered aggregates in the protein-less chlorosomes of green sulfur bacteria, we created nanoparticles with nonlinear optical properties (e.g., superradiant third harmonic generation). In addition, we discovered the critical structural elements for porphyrin molecules to form a tight and highly ordered metalloporphyrin assembly within a lipid nanoparticle hydrophobic core; the resulting metalloporphyrin nanoparticles posess precise size control, tunable optical properties and favorable biocompatibility that are useful for smart phototheranostics.<br/><br/>The successful demonstration of these biomimetic approaches opens the door for the reconstruction of complex natural systems and for the use of their fasinating properties for biomedical applications.

Mimicking how nature harvests light to create smart nanophotonics

256th National Meeting (2018)

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