The development of polypeptide composite particles, PCPs, made of a silica core and a polypeptide shell results in unique properties that cannot be achieved by the core or polymer shell alone. Many polypeptides undergo conformational transitions, and when tethered to a spherical bead the resulting hybrid is similar in overall structure to protein-caged materials like viruses. Good control over the core size coupled with the ability to change the secondary structure by changes in pH, temperature or solvent offers a platform to study virus-like conformational transitions on curved surfaces. These transitions may have materials science applications. The polymerization of PCPs through photo-induced cross-linking of unmodified proteins, PICUP, yields unusual polycolloid morphologies.This work was supported by the Grant DMR-1005707 from the National Science Foundation.

Polypeptide composite particles as platforms for disease inspired materials and architectural polycolloids

246th National Meeting (2013)

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