The past, present and future of protein-based materials

Abstract

Protein-based materials are finding new uses and applications after millennia of impacting the daily life of humans. Some of the earliest uses of protein-based materials are still evident in silk and wool textiles and leather goods. Today, even as silks, wools and leathers are still be used in traditional ways, these proteins are now seen as promising materials for biomaterials, vehicles of drug delivery and components of high-tech fabrics. With the advent of biosynthetic methods and streamlined means of protein purification, protein-based materials—recombinant and otherwise—are being used in a host of applications at the cutting edge of medicine, electronics, materials science and even fashion. This commentary aims to discuss a handful of these applications while taking a critical look at where protein-based materials may be used in the future.

New Developments in Medical Applications of Hybrid Hydrogels Containing Natural Polymers

“…Resilin is a pliable and extendable structural protein found in insects. It is named for its resilience to repeated rounds of stretching and relaxation [326]. Resilin has ability to store mechanical energy [327].…”

Engineered protein-based functional nanopatterned materials for bio-optical devices

“…[1][2][3] A variety of bioinspired strategies have recently emerged to develop universal fabrication methodologies to create new functional biomaterials with improved properties and potential uses. [4][5][6][7] Bioinspired materials are capable of recreating processes that occur in nature, where complex structures emerge from the combination of small components through selfassembly, and display a broad variety of functionalities. Although these bioinspired fabrication approaches have opened new routes toward the scalable production of biocompatible multifunctional systems in biooptics 1 and lighting, 1,8 the development of protein-based devices is still in its infancy.…”

“…Protein engineering enables the creation-in addition to the naturally occurring building blocks-of protein-based synthetic building blocks, and signicantly enhances reproducibility rates and facilitates the rational design and assembly of functional biomaterials. 4,17 Modular building blocks with simple intermolecular interactions allow for better control of the assembly, 18,19 synthesis of different nanomaterials, 20 and even 3D structures 21 by using simple building blocks with welldescribed intermolecular interactions, such as coiled-coils and amyloid peptides. 22,23 Engineered building blocks enable the control over the organization from the simplest to more complicated structures.…”

Biocatalytic Protein‐Based Materials for Integration into Energy Devices

“…Extensive efforts are currently being made in the fabrication of new functional biomaterials and their integration into technological devices . A variety of bioinspired strategies have recently emerged to create biomaterials with tailored functionalities, improved properties, and potential applications . These strategies include bottom‐up approaches for the generation of supramolecular biomaterials, with particular efforts devoted to protein‐based materials due to the amazing structural and functional diversity of these biomolecules …”