Here, we demonstrate the first successful isotope labeling of Ala carbons in hornet silk produced by the larvae of Vespa (Vespinae, Vespidae) mandarinia. This labeled hornet silk was examined by high-resolution 13C solid-state NMR, and it was found that the fraction of Ala residues in a-helical conformations compared with Ala residues in the overall conformation of hornet silk can be quantitati...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A number of remodeling or protective techniques available to treat wide-neck intracranial aneurysms are increasingly being used, provided that the shape/type of aneurysm, vessel diameter, and inherent course of the vessel are conducive to their use. The purpose of this study was to describe a novel method using coil protection for treatment of wide-neck aneurysms. MATER...

Most helix-coil transition theories can be characterized by three parameters: energetic, describing the (free) energy cost of forming a helical state in one repeating unit; entropic, accounting for the decrease of entropy due to formation of the helical state; and geometric, indicating how many repeating units are affected by the formation of one helical state. Depending on their effect on the ...

Coiled coils have attracted considerable interest as design templates in a wide range of applications. Successful coiled-coil design strategies therefore require a detailed understanding of coiled-coil folding. One common feature shared by coiled coils is the presence of a short autonomous helical folding unit, termed "trigger sequence," that is indispensable for folding. Detailed knowledge of ...

The design and synthesis of suitable block copolymers, such as those consisting of both flexible components and rigid components, as building blocks for highly ordered supramolecular architectures have attracted considerable attention in the past several decades. The resulting supramolecular structures can potentially offer various functionalities by means of their photophysical, electrochemica...

Protein α-helical coiled coil structures that elicit antibody responses, which block critical functions of medically important microorganisms, represent a means for vaccine development. By using bioinformatics algorithms, a total of 50 antigens with α-helical coiled coil motifs orthologous to Plasmodium falciparum were identified in the P. vivax genome. The peptides identified in silico were ch...

This paper presents an efficient coil design for a mm-sized micro-robot which generates a propulsion force and torque and receives electrical energy using a wireless power transfer system. To determine the most efficient coil structures and produce propulsion and torque on the micro-robot, both helical and spiral coil modeling was conducted, and analytical formulations of the propulsion force a...