University of Jyväskylä receives ERC Advanced Grant for €2.5m euros for research on the interaction of nanoparticles and biomolecules

University of Jyväskylä receives ERC Advanced Grant for €2.5m euros for research on the interaction of nanoparticles and biomolecules

Professor of computational nanoscience Hannu Häkkinen is an internationally renowned researcher who has modelled the structure and characteristics of metal nanoparticles for more than twenty years. In recent years, the target of his interest has been the interaction of nanoparticles and biomolecules (e.g. DNA and proteins) and how this interaction changes the structure and characteristics of the particle or biomolecule so that the created hybrid structure could be used in nanomedicine applications.

Aiming to combine computation methods efficiently

Häkkinen's ERC project "Dynamic Nanocluster - Biomolecule Interfaces" is especially targeted to particles in the size class of only a few nanometres. Their atomic structure is known from experimental studiesand it is possible to construct their precise atomic-level models. Computational methods that utilise supercomputers can be used, for example, to study the properties of the electronic structure of the particle in question. On the other hand, biomolecules such as DNA and proteins can be modelled using, for example, molecular dynamics methods. The challenge is how to combine these very different systems and the computation methods related to them.

"The fastest essential changes in the functional structure of biomolecules usually happen in the time scale of microseconds," says Professor Hannu Häkkinen. "This time scale is about four or five times longer than the longest time during which we could simulate changes in the electronic structure of a particle when it is attached to a biomolecule. My ERC project answers to this challenge by combining machine learning methods to existing simulation methods."

New solutions for cancer treatment

The computational methods developed in the project will be used for applications related to nanomedicine. One of the applications is related to the use of metal nanoparticles in photodynamic therapy. In this use, the particle sucks energy from the radiation directed at it and destroys the cancer shell either by heating it locally or by causing chemical reactions on the surface of the cell. Another application is related to the use of nanoparticles as the carriers of cancer drug molecules, because it is possible to insert drug molecules as well as molecules that recognise cancer cells into the molecular layer that protects the particle. This way the drug molecules are carried to the right targetand they do not damage healthy cells.

"This kind of application has already yielded promising results in clean laboratory conditions and tentative modellings," Häkkinen says. "The problem, however, has been that we do not yet know how other molecules such as proteins adhere to the surface of metal particles in a biological environment and how they impact the functionality of the particle in time scales that are relevant for changes taking place in a biological environment. My ERC project aims to bring more light to this matter."

Global cooperation in various countries

Häkkinen's research is mainly computational modelling that uses supercomputers and, therefore, requires cooperation with groups that conduct experimental research. The cooperation networks related to the ERC project are currently in the USA, Canada, Denmark and Singapore.

"The calculated predictions for the measurable characteristics of nanoparticle-biomolecule hybrids must be tested in laboratory conditions so that we are able to get information on the functionality of our methods and the reliability of our predictions," says Häkkinen.

International cooperation is currently very closeand one can get experimental results for comparison quickly.

"Actually, my passion for my whole career as a researcher has been to match computation data and data received from an experiment and thus produce new information in problems that nobody has solved yet," he says. "I have had a chance to work with a really large international group of colleagues and I look forward to that also this time."

Renowned professional in several fields of science

From 2007, Hannu Häkkinen has worked as a professor of computational nanoscience for the University of Jyväskylä at the Departments of Physics and of Chemistry and the Nanoscience Center. Häkkinen's research group is highly renowned and respected in its field. One of his cooperation partners has been Nobel Laureate Roger D Kornberg from Stanford. Häkkinen was a visiting professor at Xiamen University in 2017 to 2021.

He served as an Academy Professor from 2016 to 2020. From 2022, he has been the vice dean for research in the Faculty of Mathematics and Science at the University of Jyväskylä. In 2012 to 2017, he was the scientific director of the Nanoscience Center of the University of Jyväskylä. He has been a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters from 2015.

In 2018, the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters granted him the Professor Theodor Homén Prize in physics for significant scientific merits. In the same year, Clarivate Analytics, a company which observes citations in the science world, ranked Häkkinen as one of the world's most cited researchers in his field, a demonstration of the significance of his work in the science community. The University of Jyväskylä awarded Häkkinen the JYU science award in 2011.

ERC grants are one of Europe's largest research funding schemes. Advanced Grants are awarded to well-established researchers who seek new scientific breakthroughs. For one project, the maximum sum of ERC funding is 3.5 million euros in five years.

Hannu Häkkinen