Computer simulations of red blood cells and proteins interacting with nanostructured surfaces
- Autores: Berardo Mario Manzi
- Directores de la Tesis: Vladimir Baulin (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Rovira i Virgili ( España ) en 2018
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Marcus Müller (presid.), Josep Bonet Avalos (secret.), Xavier Daura i Ribera (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Nanociencia, Materiales e Ingeniería Química por la Universidad Rovira i Virgili
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
- Resumen
Recent advances in fabrication and modification of the nanotopography on surfaces have led to the development of a new generation of nanostructured materials with new properties, such as mechano-bactericidal activity and enhancement of growth of mammalian cells. This features are quite appealing for applications in biomedicine, especially as implants, but the underlying mechanisms driving the antimicrobial effects are not completely understood. Therefore, adequate theoretical modelling is required to provide deeper comprehension of the interactions between biological media and surfaces with nanoscale topographies.
This work presents two types of models, targeting two different aspects of the same problem. The first approach, Random Sequential Adsorption (RSA), describes the first step of any foreign entity entering the human body: protein adsorption. For this purpose, we develop an extension to RSA for nanostructured surfaces and show how complex geometries affect the final configurations of adsorption.
The second approach studies the actual interaction of cells with nanopatterned surfaces. We use Coarse-grained Langevin Dynamics to model deformations of Red Blood Cells, which represent an optimal compromise between computational simplicity and realistic modelling, and show how surfaces of different dimensions, including nanoparticles, affect the final shape of the cells. We demonstrate that the rupture is not caused by the piercing of the peaks on the surfaces, but rather by the important deformations leading to over-extension. This effect can be diminished by varying the design of the surfaces, in particular their dimensions.
