ESPCI web site
Title : Experimental-computational design of protein-based materials
Abstract : Engineers and scientists are increasingly working with
Nature’s structural proteins, such as silk, elastin, or collagen, to
synthesise multifunctional materials for applications in biomedicine,
biosensing, renewable energy, or infrastructure, to name a few. This is due
to their natural abundance, biocompatibility, controllable nanostructure,
multi-stimuli responsiveness, and tuneable structural, mechanical, or
optical properties. Nonetheless, revolutions in bioprocess engineering, and
molecular and synthetic biology, are making it increasingly accessible to
design new protein polymers and produce them via microbial fermentations.
Thus, we can create novel protein polymers with optimized sequences with
preprogrammed physicochemical or biological properties. The development of
these materials can be greatly accelerated by computational modelling,
namely molecular dynamics simulations. Using these computational tools, we
can predict the effect of protein polymer features (i.e., sequence, chain
length) or processing conditions (i.e., temperature, pH, solvent) on the
properties of the resulting materials, avoiding costly experimental
iterations to determine fabrication parameters. In this talk, Diego López
Barreiro will present a combined experimental-computational approach for
the manufacture of multifunctional protein-based materials. He will
showcase examples of how this approach can be applied to natural and
recombinant silk and silk-elastin biopolymers, in combination with
additives like biobased carbons, carbon nanoparticles, or biomineralized
silica nanoparticles.