In the past decade among the main developments in the field of bionanotechnology is the application of proteins in devices. Research focuses on the modification of enzyme systems by means of chemical and physical tools in order to achieve full control of their function and to employ them for specific tasks. Membrane protein channels are intriguing biological devices as they allow the recognitio...

Engineering plasmonic nanostructures that simultaneously achieve high colloidal stability, high photothermal stability, low non-specific binding to biological specimens, and low toxicity is of significant interest to research in bionanotechnology. Using gold nanorods, we solved this problem by encapsulating them with a multilayer structure, silica, hydrophobic ligands, and amphiphilic-polymers....

Protein adsorption at inorganic surfaces is highly relevant to nanoand bionanotechnology. Just two examples of great significance are the use of specific peptide sequences to control cell deposition on tissue scaffolds, and the tethering of bio-photosynthetic reaction centers on electrodes to harvest light for power generation and hydrogen production. Understanding of the behavior of proteins i...

Engineering compact imaging probes with highly integrated modalities is a key focus in bionanotechnology and will have profound impact on molecular diagnostics, imaging and therapeutics. However, combining multiple components on a nanometre scale to create new imaging modalities unavailable from individual components has proven to be challenging. In this paper, we demonstrate iron oxide and gol...

Using and engineering amyloid as nanomaterials are blossoming trends in bionanotechnology. Here, we show our discovery of an amyloid structure, termed "amyloid-like nanosheet," formed by a key amyloid-forming segment of Alzheimer's Aβ. Combining multiple biophysical and computational approaches, we proposed a structural model for the nanosheet that is formed by stacking the amyloid fibril spine...

Viral shells are self-assembled protein nanocontainers with remarkable material properties. They combine simplicity of construction with toughness and complex functionality. These properties make them interesting for bionanotechnology. To date we know little about how virus structure determines assembly pathways and shell mechanics. We have here used atomic force microscopy to study structural ...

Therapeutic angiogenesis has emerged as a promising strategy to treat various acute and chronic vascular diseases, and to enhance tissue repair and regeneration. 1 Common revascularization therapies include the administration of angiogenic factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). 2 The success of these therapies greatly relies on the ability to control the spatial organizatio...

The ability of peptides and proteins to change conformations in response to external stimuli such as temperature, pH and the presence of specific small molecules is ubiquitous in nature. Exploiting this phenomenon, numerous natural and designed peptides have been used to engineer stimulus-responsive systems with potential applications in important research areas such as biomaterials, nanodevice...