Multiscale mechanics: folded globular proteins as hydrogel Lego bricks

力学性质是生物支架的基本性质，通过设计包含特定结构和力学线索的材料支架可以控制细胞的行为。蛋白质是半柔性聚合物，由半柔性聚合物形成的生物聚合物网络是一类具有显著材料性质的新型生物软物质体系，推动了许多理论的发展。这些理论包括单个半柔性聚合物、束和纠缠溶液的力学和动力学，以及无序聚合物网络的非仿射方法。PGR将加入一个多学科团队，以了解构建块(折叠蛋白质)及其连接性(蛋白质网络)的物理。这将通过一种基于物理的交叉长度尺度的方法来实现，该方法将折叠蛋白质的纳米级生物物理知识转化为新型折叠蛋白质水凝胶的中尺度结构和功能。实验技术将包括流变学、散射、微泡和超声波。

Mechanical properties are an essential property of biological scaffolds, where cell behaviour can be controlled by designing material scaffolds that incorporate specific structural and mechanical cues.Proteins are semi-flexible polymer and biopolymer networks formed by semi-flexible polymers have emerged as a new class of biological soft matter systems with remarkable material properties, motivating many theoretical developments. Such theories include the mechanics and dynamics of individual semiflexible polymers, bundles and entangled solutions and non-affine approaches for disordered polymer networks.The PGR will join a multidisciplinary team to understand the physics of the building block (the folded protein) and its connectivity (the protein network). This will be achieved through a cross length scale, physics based approach which will translate knowledge of the nanoscale biophysics of folded proteins to the mesoscale architecture and function of novel folded protein hydrogels. Experimental techniques will include rheology, scattering, microbubbles and ultrasound.