Aided Porous Medium Emulsification for Functional Hydrogel Microparticles Synthesis.

Despite the substantial advancement in developing various hydrogel microparticle (HMP) synthesis methods, emulsification through porous medium to synthesize functional hybrid protein-polymer HMPs has yet to be addressed. Here, the aided porous medium emulsification for hydrogel microparticle synthesis (APME-HMS) system, an innovative approach drawing inspiration from porous medium emulsification is introduced. This method capitalizes on emulsifying immiscible phases within a 3D porous structure for optimal HMP production.

Toward Tunable Protein-Driven Hydrogel Lens.

Despite the significant progress in protein-based materials, creating a tunable protein-activated hydrogel lens remains an elusive goal. This study leverages the synergistic relationship between protein structural dynamics and polymer hydrogel engineering to introduce a highly transparent protein-polymer actuator. By incorporating bovine serum albumin into polyethyleneglycol diacrylate hydrogels, the authors achieved enhanced light transmittance and conferred actuating capabilities to the hydrogel.

Kinetic Method of Producing Pores Inside Protein-Based Biomaterials without Compromising Their Structural Integrity.

Hydrogels made from globular proteins cross-linked covalently into a stable network are becoming an important type of biomaterial, with applications in artificial tissue design and cell culture scaffolds, and represent a promising system to study the mechanical and biochemical unfolding of proteins in crowded environments. Due to the small size of the globular protein domains, typically 2-5 nm, the primary network allows for a limited transfer of protein molecules and prevents the passing of particles and aggregates with dimensions over 100 nm. Here, we demonstrate a method to produce protein materials with micrometer-sized pores and increased permeability.

Chemical unfolding of protein domains induces shape change in programmed protein hydrogels.

Programmable behavior combined with tailored stiffness and tunable biomechanical response are key requirements for developing successful materials. However, these properties are still an elusive goal for protein-based biomaterials. Here, we use protein-polymer interactions to manipulate the stiffness of protein-based hydrogels made from bovine serum albumin (BSA) by using polyelectrolytes such as polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly-L-lysine (PLL) at various concentrations.

Harvesting Low Molecular Weight Biomarkers Using Gold Nanoparticles.

We developed and characterized a platform based on gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) coated with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) for harvesting positively charged, low molecular weight (LMW) proteins. The particles are synthesized using a layer by layer (LbL) procedure: first the gold NPs are coated with positively charged polyethylenimine (PEI) and subsequently with PAA. This simple procedure produces stable PAA-PEI-Au (PPAu) NPs with high selectivity and specificity.