Proteins and Nanostructures: from interactions to biotemplating

JUAN M. RUSO, PAULA V. MESSINA

Roma

Conferencia; International Soft Matter Conference 2013; 2013

Universidad de Roma

An enhanced knowledge of the interaction of proteins with the surfaces of implantable materials is fundamental for understanding cellular events and the overall host response. Consequently, thinking of future use of Si-nanofibers as three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds for construction of implantable artificial devices, the correlation among the material surface characteristics and the amount, structure and distribution of adsorbed fibrinogen molecules was analyzed. Once the adsorption process was characterized we have changed the role of the components and focused on the preparation of hierarchical silica nanostructures through a biomimetic approach. Toward this goal, a protein-directed approach has been proposed to template silica into 3D architectures through a hydrogel matrix formed from physically cross-linked fibrinogen and ovalbumin. The hydrogel matrix has tunable physicochemical properties based on the thermal unfolding of the main domains of the protein,concentration of protein and pH. A variety of 3D nanostructures ranging from highly porosity structures to spherical particles have been identified and characterized. Also it was observed that the fractal dimension of silica structures follow the same pattern that their corresponding templates. The bio-scaffolding method helps the bottom-up assembly of silica precursors in nanostructures with defined three dimensional dimensions and provides a versatile route for the design of new architectures under green conditions.