Nature has often confronted challenges that eventually were surmounted through an application of natural selection. These challenges have involved thriving in toxic environments and developing ways of finding water in the driest of places; biology has always applied a diverse toolkit to handle every challenge. The tools in the toolbox include nucleic acids, lipids, polysaccharides, and proteins, each of which have been used for direct applications far different from their defined purposes to make sensors or other electronic devices. Proteins in particular represent nature’s most diverse polymer with a range of functionality determined by 20 naturally encoded amino acids. In this presentation I will discuss the application of proteins or polypeptides for the purpose of addressing challenges that biological systems have never previously had to hurdle with an emphasis on bio-templated lithium ion batteries.<br/><br/>While natural selection ends at modifications to the environment that allow generations of organisms to continue, our lab uses a form of artificial selection called phage display in order to address technological problems that are not commonly thought of as relevant to nature. The toolbox remains the same however the application of the tools is to identify solid binding polypeptides that have very strong but specific interactions with electroactive materials and to identify and exploit these interactions in order to improve devices with an emphasis on the improvement of lithium ion batteries.<br/><br/>This talk will present findings that describe how solid binding polypeptides interact with functional inorganic materials. The application that is always on the horizon is the improvement in lithium ion batteries; however, fundamental organic/inorganic interactions will be explored and data will be presented that focus on how the polypeptides interact with the surface of the particles.

Naturally synthetic: Using biology to connect inorganic particles

254th National Meeting (2017)

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