  We present a coarse-grained model for evaluation of interactions of globular
proteins with nanoparticles. The protein molecules are represented by one bead
per aminoacid and the nanoparticle by a homogeneous sphere that interacts with
the aminoacids via a central force that depends on the nanoparticle size. The
proposed methodology is used to predict the adsorption energies for six common
human blood plasma proteins on hydrophobic charged or neutral nanoparticles of
different sizes as well as the preferred orientation of the molecules upon
adsorption. Our approach allows one to rank the proteins by their binding
affinity to the nanoparticle, which can be used for predicting the composition
of the NP-protein corona. The predicted ranking is in good agreement with known
experimental data for protein adsorption on surfaces.
