Search Results
Ultra-strong bio-glue from genetically engineered polypeptides
2021, Ma, Chao, Sun, Jing, Li, Bo, Feng, Yang, Sun, Yao, Xiang, Li, Wu, Baiheng, Xiao, Lingling, Liu, Baimei, Petrovskii, Vladislav S., Zhang, Jinrui, Wang, Zili, Li, Hongyan, Zhang, Lei, Li, Jingjing, Wang, Fan, Gӧstl, Robert, Potemkin, Igor I., Chen, Dong, Zeng, Hongbo, Zhang, Hongjie, Liu, Kai, Herrmann, Andreas
The development of biomedical glues is an important, yet challenging task as seemingly mutually exclusive properties need to be combined in one material, i.e. strong adhesion and adaption to remodeling processes in healing tissue. Here, we report a biocompatible and biodegradable protein-based adhesive with high adhesion strengths. The maximum strength reaches 16.5 ± 2.2 MPa on hard substrates, which is comparable to that of commercial cyanoacrylate superglue and higher than other protein-based adhesives by at least one order of magnitude. Moreover, the strong adhesion on soft tissues qualifies the adhesive as biomedical glue outperforming some commercial products. Robust mechanical properties are realized without covalent bond formation during the adhesion process. A complex consisting of cationic supercharged polypeptides and anionic aromatic surfactants with lysine to surfactant molar ratio of 1:0.9 is driven by multiple supramolecular interactions enabling such strong adhesion. We demonstrate the glue’s robust performance in vitro and in vivo for cosmetic and hemostasis applications and accelerated wound healing by comparison to surgical wound closures.
De novo rational design of a freestanding, supercharged polypeptide, proton-conducting membrane
2020, Ma, Chao, Dong, Jingjin, Viviani, Marco, Tulini, Isotta, Pontillo, Nicola, Maity, Sourav, Zhou, Yu, Roos, Wouter H., Liu, Kai, Herrmann, Andreas, Portale, Giuseppe
Proton translocation enables important processes in nature and man-made technologies. However, controlling proton conduction and fabrication of devices exploiting biomaterials remains a challenge. Even more difficult is the design of protein-based bulk materials without any functional starting scaffold for further optimization. Here, we show the rational design of proton-conducting, protein materials exceeding reported proteinaceous systems. The carboxylic acid-rich structures were evolved step by step by exploring various sequences from intrinsically disordered coils over supercharged nanobarrels to hierarchically spider β sheet containing protein-supercharged polypeptide chimeras. The latter material is characterized by interconnected β sheet nanodomains decorated on their surface by carboxylic acid groups, forming self-supportive membranes and allowing for proton conduction in the hydrated state. The membranes showed an extraordinary proton conductivity of 18.5 ± 5 mS/cm at RH = 90%, one magnitude higher than other protein devices. This design paradigm offers great potential for bioprotonic device fabrication interfacing artificial and biological systems. Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).