Development of Functional Peptide Nanostructures

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Inspired by the properties of natural proteins, our group is working to construct artificial molecular systems of nanometer dimension designed to perform specific tasks with unprecedented level of efficiency. Even though great successes have been achieved using creative approaches, lot more work is necessary to delineate the molecular guidelines to predict and understand the functions of artificial nanoscale systems and, most importantly, to exploit them into routine practical applications. The unifying theme of our program is the construction of unique nanoscale molecular architectures with tailor-made functions exploiting the power of combining chemical synthesis with the advantages of peptidic structures. More specifically, this proposal describes three research areas where we will invest our efforts; 1) the use of artificial ion channels for the development of real-time sensing devices for biologically relevant analytes, 2) the development of selective nanochemotherapeutics, and 3) the discovery of efficient antimicrobials based on crown peptide nanostructures.