Bionanotechnology is an emerging field with great promise in molecular science. The field is so new that it has yet to be formally defined. However, it can be characterized as a primitive technology that takes advantage of the properties of highly evolved natural products like nucleic acids and proteins by attempting to harness them to achieve new and useful functionalities on the nanoscale. It...

Protein nanocages play crucial roles in sub-cellular compartmentalization and spatial control all domains of life have been used as biomolecular tools for applications biocatalysis, drug delivery, bionanotechnology. The ability to their assembly state under physiological conditions would further expand practical utility. To gain such control, we introduced a peptide capable triggering conformat...

Designed polypeptides and electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly form the basis of promising research in bionanotechnology and medicine on development of polyelectrolyte multilayer films (PEMs). We show that PEMs can be formed from oppositely charged 32mers containing several cysteine residues. The polypeptides in PEMs become cross-linked under mild oxidizing conditions. This mimicking of d...

Chemotactic bacteria navigate their chemical environment by coupling sophisticated information processing capabilities to molecular motors that propel the cells forward. The ability to reprogram bacteria to follow entirely new chemical signals would create powerful new opportunities in bioremediation, bionanotechnology, and synthetic biology. However, the complexities of bacterial signaling and...

In this exploratory investigation, we conduct five case studies to look into the extent and types of crossdisciplinary practices in a specialty of bionanotechnology. We found that there is a consistently high degree of cross-disciplinarity in the cognitive aspects of research (i.e. references and instrumentalities), but a more erratic and narrower degree in those dimensions associated with soci...

Design of thermally stable proteins is spurred by their applications in bionanotechnology. There are three major issues governing this: first, the upper limit on the temperature at which proteins remain physiologically active and are available for technological applications (answers may emerge from the discovery of new, natural hyperthermophilic enzymes that are active above 125 degrees C or fr...

s, and 5 issued or pending patents on the use of microand nanoscale technologies and hydrogels in biomedical applications. His current research involves the synthesis and use of novel materials and technologies for regulating cellular behavior. He has received many awards including outstanding undergraduate research mentor at MIT (2004), outstanding graduate student award by the Biomedical Engi...

BACKGROUND THE CONTEXT AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Over the last decade China has emerged as a major producer of scientific publications, currently ranking second behind the US. During that time Chinese strategic policy initiatives have placed indigenous innovation at the heart of its economy while focusing internal R&D investments and the attraction of foreign investment in nanotechnology as one...

Nature provides inspiration for designing materials and systems that derive their functions from highly organized structures. Biological hard tissues are hybrid materials having inorganics within a complex organic matrix, the molecular scaffold controlling the inorganic structures. Biocomposites incorporate both biomacromolecules such as proteins, lipids and polysaccharides, and inorganic mater...

In this critical review we highlight recent advances in the use of peptide- and protein-related materials as smart building blocks in nanotechnology. Peptides and proteins can be very practical for new material synthesis and device fabrications. For example, peptides and proteins have superior specificity for target binding as seen in the antibody recognition and this biological recognition fun...