Proteins are biocompatible, biodegradable and sustainable building blocks for designing functional materials. Additionally, they naturally occur with a variety of properties that can be harnessed for biomaterial applications such as antimicrobial strategies, tissue engineering, drug delivery etc. One major challenge with the fabrication of protein-based materials is their aqueous stability. Current strategies to design stable protein films are limited due to use of toxic crosslinkers or heat-induced denaturation. Therefore, a generalizable technique that can be applied to a wide variety of protein precursors to enhance stability while retaining native protein properties, is attractive for biomaterial applications. We have developed a scalable and additive-free thermal treatment for the fabrication of stable, hydrophilic protein films through thermal treatment in fluorous media. Protein building blocks retain most of their secondary structure and surface properties, enabling us to create protein-based coatings. We demonstrate the versatility of this strategy by studying a variety of proteins for applications such as anti-fouling coatings, drug-eluting coatings, tissue engineering scaffolds and microfluidic systems.

Fabrication of protein-based coatings for biomaterial applications

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.