R. Freeman
UNC-Chapel Hill,
United States
Keywords: Self-assembly, Synthetic Biology, Biomaterials, Peptide, Protein
Summary:
Peptides, nucleic acids, lipids, and sugars are the most versatile building blocks that underlay cellular structures and functions. Key to their emergent functionality is the dynamic interplay between components across length scales, and their responsiveness to physical and biochemical cues. While nature only uses a fraction of the available sequence and structural space, more is beginning to become accessible by innovative design strategies and chemistries, advanced characterization techniques, and computational tools that uncover design principles for the construction of structures with high complexity. I will give an overview of our recent work involving the design of cell-inspired assemblies and interfaces using peptides, nucleic acids, and sugars that provide expanded complexity and functionality towards materials with life-like properties.