Responsive soft materials from designer protein polymers

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This proposed research program combines elements of protein design, biophysics, and soft condensed matter physics to create and study protein-based soft materials. My lab has expertise in the use of computational biophysics and molecular biology methods for designing and creating polymer-like proteins with desired structural and functional features. Biologically engineered protein polymers have precisely determined sequence and molecular weight, thereby allowing for the selection of molecular attributes (such as protein conformation and elasticity) and the control of the intermolecular interactions that govern the association of proteins into materials. Such protein-based materials have a wide variety of applications in cell and tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and targeted drug delivery. Yet, fundamental understanding of how their molecular composition and architecture determines their physical properties (self-assembly, microstructure, and mechanical behaviour) is still rather incomplete. The proposed program is focused on two interrelated thematic areas in the fundamental behaviour of these macromolecules and the materials they form: (I) Modular Protein Copolymers and their Supramolecular Assemblies and (II) Elastomeric Proteins for Responsive Protein Hydrogels. In each theme we will create new materials whose study will shed light on fundamental aspects of how molecular design impacts physical properties. Such knowledge is is a first step toward more general utility of protein based materials for applications in biomedicine and biotechnology. The process of conducting such research would provide unique training to HQP that would be broadly applicable to research and development careers in the Canadian biotechnology sector.