ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

The use of bioinorganic nanohybrids (nanoscaled systems based on an inorganic and a biological component) has already resulted in several innovative medical breakthroughs for drug delivery, therapeutics, imaging, diagnosis and biocompatibility. However, researchers still know relatively little about the structure, function and mechanism of these nanodevices. Theoretical investigations of bioinorganic interfaces are mostly limited to force-field approaches which cannot grasp the details of the physicochemical mechanisms. The BIOINOHYB project proposes to capitalize on recent massively parallelized codes to investigate bioinorganic nanohybrids by advanced quantum chemical methods. This approach will allow to master the chemical and electronic interplay between the bio and the inorganic components in the first part of the project, and the interaction of the hybrid systems with light in the second part. The ultimate goal is to provide the design principles for novel, unconventional assemblies with unprecedented functionalities and strong impact potential in nanomedicine. More specifically, in this project the traditional metallic nanoparticle will be substituted by emerging semiconducting metal oxide nanostructures with photocatalytic or magnetic properties capable of opening totally new horizons in nanomedicine (e.g. photocatalytic therapy, a new class of contrast agents, magnetically guided drug delivery). Potentially efficient linkers will be screened regarding their ability both to anchor surfaces and to bind biomolecules. Different kinds of biomolecules (from oligopeptides and oligonucleotides to small drugs) will be tethered to the activated surface according to the desired functionality. The key computational challenge, requiring the recourse to more sophisticated methods, will be the investigation of the photo-response to light of the assembled bioinorganic systems, also with specific reference to their labelling with fluorescent markers and contrast agents.

1 748 125 €

Start date: 2016-02-01, End date: 2021-01-31

Multiferroics (i.e. materials where ferroelectricity and magnetism coexist) are presently drawing enormous interests, due to their technologically-relevant multifunctional character and to the astoundingly rich playground for fundamental condensed-matter physics they constitute. Here, we put forward several concepts on how to break inversion symmetry and achieve sizable ferroelectricity in collinear magnets; our approach is corroborated via first-principles calculations as tools to quantitatively estimate relevant ferroelectric and magnetic properties as well as to reveal ab-initio the main mechanisms behind the dipolar and magnetic orders. In closer detail, we focus on the interplay between ferroelectricity and electronic degrees of freedom in magnets, i.e. on those cases where spin- or orbital- or charge-ordering can be the driving force for a spontaneous polarization to develop. Antiferromagnetism will be considered as a primary mechanism for lifting inversion symmetry; however, the effects of charge disproportionation and orbital ordering will also be studied by examining a wide class of materials, including ortho-manganites with E-type spin-arrangement, non-E-type antiferromagnets, nickelates, etc. Finally, as an example of materials-design accessible to our ab-initio approach, we use “chemistry” to break inversion symmetry by artificially constructing an oxide superlattice and propose a way to switch, via an electric field, from antiferromagnetism to ferrimagnetism. To our knowledge, the link between electronic degrees of freedom and ferroelectricity in collinear magnets is an almost totally unexplored field by ab-initio methods; indeed, its clear understanding and optimization would lead to a scientific breakthrough in the multiferroics area. Technologically, it would pave the way to materials design of magnetic ferroelectrics with properties persisting above room temperature and, therefore, to a novel generation of electrically-controlled spintronic devices

684 000 €

Start date: 2008-05-01, End date: 2012-04-30

First principles Density-Functional Theory (DFT) methods have been widely applied for computing electronic and optical properties of different systems. Recently theoretical modeling of metal-organic interfaces received a much attention due to their importance in different nanoscience fields. However, common (i.e. local and semi-local) approximations to the exchange-correlation (XC) functional of DFT show several shortcomings in describing metal-organic energy-levels alignment and thus charge-transfer. Aim of the DEDOM (DEvelopment of Density functional theory methods for Organic Metal interaction) project is to elaborate new theoretical methods beyond the current state-of-the-art for the description of the electronic and optical properties of organic molecules linked or deposited on metal surfaces or metal nanoparticles. This task includes: i) the development of new and efficient XC functionals, based on optimized effective potential (OEP) and including exact-exchange and correlation from many-body theory, to obtain an accurate description of charge-transfer between organic molecules and metal surfaces; ii) the investigation of optical properties, including light-emission, of organic molecules on metal surfaces using Time-Dependent DFT; iii) the description of metals using Green’s functions and multi-scale approaches to investigate metal-induced modification of the optical properties of organic molecules, including fluorescence quenching or enhancement due to the coupling of electronic excitations to plasmons. The DEDOM project is theoretically and technically extremely challenging due to the use of unconventional orbital-dependent XC-functionals and it requires a strong interdisciplinary effort, joining solid-state physics, theoretical chemistry, electromagnetic engineering and implementation of advanced computational techniques. If successful, it will represent a major progress in the theoretical description of organic-metal interfaces.

1 250 000 €

Start date: 2008-07-01, End date: 2013-12-31

The long-term goal of our research is to advance the state-of-the-art in molecular simulation algorithms by 4-5 orders of magnitude, particularly in the context of the GROMACS software we are developing. This is an immense challenge, but with huge potential rewards: it will be an amazing virtual microscope for basic chemistry, polymer and material science research; it could help us understand the molecular basis of diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob, and it would enable rational design rather than random screening for future drugs. To realize it, we will focus on four critical topics: • ALGORITHMS FOR SIMULATION ON GRAPHICS AND OTHER STREAMING PROCESSORS: Graphics cards and the test Intel 80-core chip are not only the most powerful processors available, but this type of streaming architectures will power many supercomputers in 3-5 years, and it is thus critical that we design new “streamable” MD algorithms. • MULTISCALE MODELING: We will develop virtual-site-based methods to bridge atomic and mesoscopic dynamics, QM/MM, and mixed explicit/implicit solvent models with water layers around macromolecules. • MULTI-LEVEL PARALLEL & DISTRIBUTED SIMULATION: Distributed computing provides virtually infinite computer power, but has been limited to small systems. We will address this by combining SMP parallelization and Markov State Models that partition phase space into transition/local dynamics to enable distributed simulation of arbitrary systems. • EFFICIENT FREE ENERGY CALCULATIONS: We will design algorithms for multi-conformational parallel sampling, implement Bennett Acceptance Ratios in Gromacs, correction terms for PME lattice sums, and combine standard force fields with polarization/multipoles, e.g. Amoeba. We have a very strong track record of converting methodological advances into applications, and the results will have impact on a wide range of fields from biomolecules and polymer science through material simulations and nanotechnology.

992 413 €

Start date: 2008-09-01, End date: 2013-08-31