IMX Seminar Series - How do silk proteins assemble into materials?

It is an attractive idea that in the future we could produce materials in bioreactors. For example, wool, spider-silk, or nacre give inspiration for the range of materials that could be made. Microbes would produce the components for these new materials in a way not depending on fossil resources. Before this becomes reality, we need to know how such materials are formed. We already know quite well how to engineer microbes to produce the needed protein-based components, but how to form the material from the isolated components? My research group has been working on a something we think could be an essential step. We investigate how proteins, in particular silks, can undergo spontaneous phase transitions in which dilute proteins form a dense liquid phase, a condensate. The condensate then undergoes further assembly steps to form the solid material. We study how the proteins structure affect the condensation mechanism and how to best achieve material properties. By studying how condensation occurs within cells we can improve production methods.
Bio: Markus Linder is professor of “biomolecular materials” at Aalto University in Finland. He is the director of the Centre of Excellence in “Life inspired hybrid materials” (LIBER) in which new materials at the interface between biology and materials science are developed. Before his position at Aalto university, he was a research professor at VTT, the Technical Research Centre of Finland. The main approaches for research are synthetic biology, protein engineering, and biophysical methods. He has also extensively worked on cellulose as a material and on enzymes that interact with and degrade cellulose.