A polymer nanoparticle with engineered affinity for a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

Protein affinity reagents are widely used in basic research, diagnostics and separations and for clinical applications, the most common of which are antibodies. However, they often suffer from high cost, and difficulties in their development, production and storage. Here we show that a synthetic polymer nanoparticle (NP) can be engineered to have many of the functions of a protein affinity reagent.

Direct correlation of single-molecule properties with bulk mechanical performance for the biomimetic design of polymers.

For rational design of advanced polymeric materials, it is critical to establish a clear mechanistic link between the molecular structure of a polymer and the emergent bulk mechanical properties. Despite progress towards this goal, it remains a major challenge to directly correlate the bulk mechanical performance to the nanomechanical properties of individual constituent macromolecules. Here, we show a direct correlation between the single-molecule nanomechanical properties of a biomimetic modular polymer and the mechanical characteristics of the resulting bulk material.