Research in the Casabianca group focuses on using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to study the interactions between nanomaterials and biological molecules. As nanotechnology becomes more prevalent in our everyday lives, it is important to understand how nano-scale systems interact with proteins, lipids, and other biological ligands. Studies involving interactions between nanomaterials and biological molecules have traditionally used low-resolution techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. NMR, on the other hand, is a local technique capable of providing atomic-level information about the electronic environment surrounding each atom. In our lab we will use solution and solid-state NMR experiments, as well as theoretical chemical shift calculations and molecular dynamics simulations in order to shed light on the structure and dynamics of nanomaterial-ligand binding. This multidisciplinary work has applications in the areas of biomedical devices, materials science, and nanoparticle toxicity.
