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Polymers and Self Assembly: From Biology to Nanomaterials
Tuesday Speaker Abstracts
Structural Proteins: Self-Assembling Biopolymers for Various Applications
Thomas Scheibel
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University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.
Proteins reflect one fascinating class of natural polymers with huge potential for technical as well
as biomedical applications. One well-known example is spider silk, a protein fiber with excellent
mechanical properties such as strength and toughness. During 400 million years of evolution
spiders became outstanding silk producers. Most spider silks are used for building the web,
which reflects an optimized trap for flying prey. Another example of an outstanding protein fiber
is mussel byssus. Some marine species like the blue mussel (Mytilus galloprovencialis) are able
to settle among seabed stones, pales and harbor walls. These mussels have successfully adapted
to changes in tides, wind and sun. Their success is based on a unique anchorage, the mussel
byssus. Byssus threads show unusual mechanical properties, since they resemble soft rubber at
one end and rigid nylon at the other, and these properties are found with a seamless and gradual
transition. We have developed biotechnological methods using bacteria as production hosts
which produce structural proteins mimicking the natural ones. Besides the recombinant protein
fabrication, we analyzed the natural assembly processes and we have developed spinning
techniques to produce protein threads closely resembling natural silk or mussel fibers.
Importantly, we can employ the bio-inspired proteins also in other application forms such as
hydrogels, particles, non-woven mats, foams or films. Our bio-inspired approach serves as a
basis for new materials in a variety of medical, biological, or chemical applications.