Characterizing the Cytocompatibility of Various Cross-Linking Chemistries for the Production of Biostable Large-Pore Protein Crystal Materials.

With rapidly growing interest in therapeutic macromolecules, targeted drug delivery, and in vivo biosensing comes the need for new nanostructured biomaterials capable of macromolecule storage and metered release that exhibit robust stability and cytocompatibility. One novel possibility for such a material are engineered large-pore protein crystals (LPCs). Here, various chemically stabilized LPC derived biomaterials were generated using three cross-linking agents: glutaraldehyde, oxaldehyde, and 1-ethyl-3-(3-(dimethylamino)propyl)carbodiimide.