Design of Artificial Protein Polymers for Healthcare Materials

Natural materials can serve as great inspirational sources to develop next-generation polymeric materials for healthcare applications, attributed to their exceptional physical, chemical and biological properties including biocompatibility, biodegradability and potential nontoxicity. Typically, the unique properties of natural materials are related to their biopolymer components, particularly multi-functional proteins and peptides, and the structural organization of biopolymers in materials. To mimic the superior properties of natural materials, well-characterized functional protein and peptide building blocks can be engineered into artificial protein polymers, which can then be hierarchically assembled into nanostructured polymeric materials, in contrast to fundamentally constructing the entire complex natural system. Based on this bioinspired approach, my research group is focusing on the development of (i) erythrocyte-mimicking microparticles with constitutive polymer networks that contain proteins with exceptional mechanical properties for effective and long-term drug delivery, (ii) protein polymers as a material platform to promote the use of numerous antimicrobial peptides as next-generation antimicrobial therapeutics to treat various (emerging) infectious diseases, and (iii) a self-assembled protein coating on metallic biomaterials to mimic human skin-fingernail interface for an enhanced skin-implant interface. In this presentation, I will discuss our current progress in developing erythrocyte-mimicking microparticles and antimicrobial peptide-incorporated self-assembled materials, which we expect to advance a wide variety of healthcare applications, including but not limited to tissue engineering, drug delivery, and combating the antibiotic resistance crisis.