Many groups have hypothesized that short (less than 20 amino acids) peptides can be used for the delivery of metal nanoparticles to specific targets for either biomedical or nanofabrication applications. Although, several groups have been successful in the selection of peptides that will specifically bind to metal and semiconductor surfaces from biological/combinatorial libraries (phage, bacterial, and yeast displays), there has been limited discussion of the mechanism of binding between peptides and such surfaces.
 
Our group has recently focused on the use of molecular spectroscopy (namely, surface-enhanced Raman scattering) to study peptide-metal interfaces to help elucidate the binding mechanism of  "gold-specific" peptides isolated by other groups from biological, phage or yeast displays systems. The goal of this project is to understand the molecular basis of this binding in order to improve upon the evolutionary technique used by other and design peptides for direct delivery of nanoparticles to specific biological targets.

Dr. Sandra Whaley Bishnoi received both her bachelor's and doctoral degrees in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. She was an Advisory Engineer at International Business Machines in Fishkill, NY.  She then completed a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Naomi Halas at Rice University in Houston, Texas.  She joined the faculty of the Biological, Chemical and Physical Science department at Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006.

Updated 6/19/06