IMX Seminar Series - Short Peptides and Amino Acids as Building Blocks for Sustainable Materials and Coatings

Short peptides and amino acids are promising building blocks for sustainable materials as they are non-toxic and biodegradable. In this lecture, I will present bio-inspired functional coatings that are spontaneously formed by extremely short peptides and commercially available amino acids. These coatings self-assemble on metals, oxides, and polymers under mild conditions without any need for a curing step and can serve many functions including self-cleaning and antifouling.¹ We specifically showed that extremely short peptides can self-assemble into a coating that prevents the first step of biofouling, which involves the adsorption of bioorganic molecules to the substrate.² The coating significantly reduces the attachment of various organisms, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, to surfaces.^{3, 4} Another function that these peptide-based coatings can mediate is the adhesion of mammalian cells to implants. This function is important for the integration of implants into the human body. Moreover, these peptides self-assemble in solution into particles that adsorb and release active compounds that synergistically reduce the number of bacteria, viruses and fungi.⁵ They can also be integrated into polymeric films by a simple co-extrusion protocol to form active polymeric films.⁶ Finally, we showed that an individual amino acid can self-assemble into a superhydrophobic coating that can provide surfaces with the ability to self-clean.⁷
References
(1) Maity, S.; Nir, S.; Zada, T.; Reches, M. Self-assembly of a tripeptide into a functional coating that resists fouling. Chemical Communications 2014, 50 (76), 11154-11157.
(2) Duanis-Assaf, T.; Reches, M. Factors influencing initial bacterial adhesion to antifouling surfaces studied by single-cell force spectroscopy. iScience 2024, 27 (2), 108803.
(3) Hu, T.; Agazani, O.; Nir, S.; Cohen, M.; Pan, S.; Reches, M. Antiviral Activity of Peptide-Based Assemblies. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2021, 13 (41), 48469-48477.
(4) Hu, T.; Kaganovich, M.; Shpilt, Z.; Pramanik, A.; Agazani, O.; Pan, S.; Tshuva, E.; Reches, M. Ultrashort Peptides for the Self-Assembly of an Antiviral Coating. Advanced Materials Interfaces 2023, 10 (6), 2202161. DOI:
(5) Kaganovich, M.; Taha, M.; Zig, U.; Tshuva, E. Y.; Shalev, D. E.; Gamliel, A.; Reches, M. Self-Assembly of a Dipeptide with a Reduced Amount of Copper into Antifungal and Antibacterial Particles. Biomacromolecules 2024, 25 (2), 1018-1026.
(6) Kaganovich, M.; Shlosman, K.; Goldman, E.; Benchis, M.; Eitan, T.; Shemesh, R.; Gamliel, A.; Reches, M. Fabrication of antimicrobial polymeric films by compression molding of peptide assemblies and polyethylene. Chemical Communications 2022, 58 (67), 9357-9360.
(7) Hu, T.; Zhang, Z.; Reches, M. A self-standing superhydrophobic material formed by the self-assembly of an individual amino acid. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2024, 655, 899-908.

Bio: Meital Reches is a Full Professor at the Institute of Chemistry and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After completing her Ph.D. studies at Tel Aviv University in 2007 and spending three years as an EMBO and an HFSP postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University, Prof. Reches established her independent research group at the Hebrew University in 2010.
Research in the Reches group focuses on understanding the interactions of biological entities such as proteins, bacteria, viruses, and cells with surfaces. In addition, her group develops peptide-based coatings to control these interactions.
For her innovations, Prof. Reches was awarded with the Marie Currie Alumni Association Best Innovator Award, the Kaye Award and the Tenne Family Prize in Nanoscale Sciences.