Self-assembling peptides have emerged as new nanobiomaterials in the areas of nanoscience and biomedical engineering. In this category are self-assembling, ionic-complementary peptides, which contain a repeating charge distribution and alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues in the amino acid sequence, leading to a unique combination of amphiphilicity and ionic complementarity. These peptides can self-assemble into stable nanostructures or macroscopic membranes that can withstand conditions of high temperature, extreme pH, many digesting enzymes and denaturation agents. Moreover, they exhibit good biocompatibility with various cultured mammalian cells, and do not have detectable immune responses when introduced into animals. These properties make them ideal materials for tissue scaffolding, regenerative medicine and drug delivery. This thesis focuses on the utilization of self-assembling peptides for hydrophobic anticancer drug delivery. The hydrophobic anticancer agent ellipticine was selected as a model drug. The studies include: (i) characterization of the photophysical properties of ellipticine in different environments; (ii) study of the formation of peptide-ellipticine complexes and the release kinetics; (iii) investigation of the cellular toxicity of the complexes and ellipticine uptake; (iv) study of the peptide sequence effect on the complex formation and in vitro delivery. Prior to applying ellipticine to the peptide-based delivery system, the fundamental studies on the effect of solution conditions, especially solvent polarity and hydrogen bonding, on the fluorescence of ellipticine were carried out. Ultraviolet (UV) absorption and fluorescence emission of ellipticine were found to be solvent/environment dependent. The absorption and emission maxima shifted to higher wavelengths (red shift) with increased solvent polarity. Large Stokes’ shifts were due to intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), which was enabled by large solvent polarity and hydrogen bonding of ellipticine with the solvents. The photophysical response of ellipticine to changes in solvent polarity and hydrogen bond formation could be used to infer the location of ellipticine in a heterogeneous medium, such as liposomes and cultured cells. EAK16-II, a model self-assembling peptide, was found to be able to stabilize ellipticine in aqueous solution. The equilibration time required to form peptide-ellipticine complex suspensions was found to be peptide concentration-dependent and related to the peptide critical aggregation concentration (CAC, ~0.1 mg/mL). With different combinations of EAK16-II and ellipticine concentrations, two molecular states (protonated or crystalline) of ellipticine could be obtained in the complexes. The release kinetics of ellipticine from the complex into egg phosphatidylcholine (EPC) vesicles (cell membrane mimics) was also affected by the peptide concentration used in the drug formulation. A higher peptide concentration resulted in a faster transfer rate, in relation to the size of the resulting complexes. Subsequent cellular studies on two cancer cell lines, A549 and MCF-7, showed that the complexes with protonated ellipticine were more effective against both cell lines, but their dilutions were not very stable. In addition, it was found that ellipticine uptake in both cell lines was very fast and through direct membrane permeation. Three peptides, EAK16-II, EAK16-IV and EFK16-II, either having a different charge distribution (EAK16-II vs. EAK16-IV) or hydrophobicity (EAK16-II vs. EFK16-II), were tested for the complexation and in vitro delivery of ellipticine. It was found that EAK16-II and EAK16-IV were able to stabilize protonated or crystalline ellipticine depending on the peptide concentration; EFK16-II, on the other hand, could stabilize neutral ellipticine molecules and ellipticine (micro)crystals. The viability results showed that the charge distribution of the peptides seemed not to affect the complex formation and its therapeutic efficacy in vitro; however, the increase in hydrophobicity of the peptides significantly altered the states of stabilized ellipticine and increased the stability of the complexes. This work provides essential information for peptide sequence design in the development of self-assembling peptide-based delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs.

Self-assembling peptides have emerged as new nanobiomaterials in the areas of nanoscience and biomedical engineering. In this category are self-assembling, ionic-complementary peptides, which contain a repeating charge distribution and alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues in the amino acid sequence, leading to a unique combination of amphiphilicity and ionic complementarity. These peptides can self-assemble into stable nanostructures or macroscopic membranes that can withstand conditions of high temperature, extreme pH, many digesting enzymes and denaturation agents. Moreover, they exhibit good biocompatibility with various cultured mammalian cells, and do not have detectable immune responses when introduced into animals. These properties make them ideal materials for tissue scaffolding, regenerative medicine and drug delivery. This thesis focuses on the utilization of self-assembling peptides for hydrophobic anticancer drug delivery. The hydrophobic anticancer agent ellipticine was selected as a model drug. The studies include: (i) characterization of the photophysical properties of ellipticine in different environments; (ii) study of the formation of peptide-ellipticine complexes and the release kinetics; (iii) investigation of the cellular toxicity of the complexes and ellipticine uptake; (iv) study of the peptide sequence effect on the complex formation and in vitro delivery. Prior to applying ellipticine to the peptide-based delivery system, the fundamental studies on the effect of solution conditions, especially solvent polarity and hydrogen bonding, on the fluorescence of ellipticine were carried out. Ultraviolet (UV) absorption and fluorescence emission of ellipticine were found to be solvent/environment dependent. The absorption and emission maxima shifted to higher wavelengths (red shift) with increased solvent polarity. Large Stokes’ shifts were due to intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), which was enabled by large solvent polarity and hydrogen bonding of ellipticine with the solvents. The photophysical response of ellipticine to changes in solvent polarity and hydrogen bond formation could be used to infer the location of ellipticine in a heterogeneous medium, such as liposomes and cultured cells. EAK16-II, a model self-assembling peptide, was found to be able to stabilize ellipticine in aqueous solution. The equilibration time required to form peptide-ellipticine complex suspensions was found to be peptide concentration-dependent and related to the peptide critical aggregation concentration (CAC, ~0.1 mg/mL). With different combinations of EAK16-II and ellipticine concentrations, two molecular states (protonated or crystalline) of ellipticine could be obtained in the complexes. The release kinetics of ellipticine from the complex into egg phosphatidylcholine (EPC) vesicles (cell membrane mimics) was also affected by the peptide concentration used in the drug formulation. A higher peptide concentration resulted in a faster transfer rate, in relation to the size of the resulting complexes. Subsequent cellular studies on two cancer cell lines, A549 and MCF-7, showed that the complexes with protonated ellipticine were more effective against both cell lines, but their dilutions were not very stable. In addition, it was found that ellipticine uptake in both cell lines was very fast and through direct membrane permeation. Three peptides, EAK16-II, EAK16-IV and EFK16-II, either having a different charge distribution (EAK16-II vs. EAK16-IV) or hydrophobicity (EAK16-II vs. EFK16-II), were tested for the complexation and in vitro delivery of ellipticine. It was found that EAK16-II and EAK16-IV were able to stabilize protonated or crystalline ellipticine depending on the peptide concentration; EFK16-II, on the other hand, could stabilize neutral ellipticine molecules and ellipticine (micro)crystals. The viability results showed that the charge distribution of the peptides seemed not to affect the complex formation and its therapeutic efficacy in vitro; however, the increase in hydrophobicity of the peptides significantly altered the states of stabilized ellipticine and increased the stability of the complexes. This work provides essential information for peptide sequence design in the development of self-assembling peptide-based delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs.

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This thesis reported synthesis of TiO2 nanostructures and Fe2O3 nanostructures and studied on self-assembling process. The morphologies, compositions, and physicochemical properties of the prepared samples were characterized by TEM, FESEM, XRD, FTIR, UV, and SQUID etc. Nanoparticles of transition metal oxides own their special function to become an interesting hot research topic in the recent decades. In particular, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can be used as drug delivery agent and new hard disc drive materials. They have wide application in environment industry as well. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles can be applied in photocatalysts, UV protectors and dye sensitive solar cell etc. Their wide industrial applications for advanced technology development motivate scientists to develop simple, economical and novel synthetic methods, and explore their applications, so that the commercialization of the production of the nanomaterials becomes feasible. The objective of this project is to develop an effective, simple and economical technical route for synthesis of nanosized iron oxide and titanium oxide particles/rods/films. The approach and the progress are outlined as follows. Based on extensive literature reading on the project related area, a novel self-assembling technical route for iron oxide nanostructure and architecture was proposed which has been confirmed to be effective. Detailed experimental investigation on the synthesis of nanoparticles/rods, and instrumental characterization of the particle size, structure, and crystallites, etc. via TEM, FESEM, XRD, FTIR, UV, SQUID are conducted. Uniform nanorods of hematite iron oxide and titanium oxide nanospheres, and anatase TiO2 thin film with micropores have been successfully achieved. Some preliminary exploration for applications of the synthesized nanomaterials has also been carried out. Firstly, a novel assembled scheme of iron oxide nanostructure and architecture by selfassembling process was investigated. The sol-gel technical route was employed to synthesize nearly uniform nanorods of hematite particles. Morphologies and physicochemical properties of iron oxide nanostructure were characterized by analytical instrument. Secondly, titanium oxide nanospheres were synthesized via a hydrothermal process using titanium isopropoxide as the precursor. Titanium oxide nanospheres with inner nanospace andhighly organized crystallites in the shell structure and surface regions were synthesized. It demonstrated that the technical route developed in this work has a high versatility for structural engineering of various targeted morphological products. Thirdly, a simple process of preparing anatase TiO2 thin film with micropores was pursued. The synthesized nano thin film with micropores was used for the material of dye-sensitive solar cell; and effective electron transfer of titanium oxide electrode was confirmed by electrochemical voltammetry. Preparation of the titanium oxide electrode and its electrochemical analysis was studied. The application of the titanium oxide of microporous thin film material as a promoter for electrochemistry voltammetry measuring system was explored in this thesis. In conclusion, the iron oxide nanorods with superparamagnetic property were successfully synthesized by a simple method with low cost materials. Titanium oxide hollow nanospheres were achieved by the assistance of copolymer template. Titanium oxide thin film with microporous structure with significantly high efficiency in electron transfer was realized. Further researches on the synthesis of hybrid iron oxide and titanium oxide nanoparticles, their crystal growth architecture and mechanism, as well as exploration of their applications are recommended.

Molecular self-assembly is the process of molecules able to associate into more ordered structures. Examples of self-assembling molecules is a class of ultrashort amphiphilic peptides with a distinct sequence motif, which consist of only three to seven amino acids. These peptides can self-assemble to form nanofibrous scaffolds, such as in form of hydrogels, organogels or aerogels, due to their amphiphilic structure which contains a dominant hydrophobic tail and a polar head group. Interestingly, these peptide scaffolds offer a remarkably similar fiber topography to that one found in collagen which is a dominant part of the extracellular matrix. The resemblance to collagen fibers brings a potential benefit in using these peptide scaffolds together with native human cells. Specifically, they can maintain high water content over 99 % weight per volume and are suitable for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Over the last decade, they have shown promising therapeutic potential in treating several diseases thanks to their high activity, target specificity, low toxicity, and minimal nonspecific and drug-drug interactions. This dissertation describes how to characterize and use ultrashort amphiphilic peptides for tissue engineering and biomedicine. The first chapter offers an overview of already reported self-assembling ultrashort peptides and their applications. As a proof-of-concept, ultrashort peptide scaffolds were used for osteogenic differentiation. Peptide nanoparticles were embedded into 5 peptide hydrogels with the goal to tune the stiffness of the peptide gels. Furthermore, the peptide scaffold was used for the generation of gold and silver nanoparticles after UV irradiation, which allowed the production of nanoparticles in the absence of any additional reducing agent. The mechanism of the generation of these nanoparticles was then investigated. The last chapter describes how tetrameric peptide solutions were utilized for 3D bioprinting applications. Compared to earlier reported self-assembling ultrashort peptide compounds, these tetrapeptides can form hydrogels at an extremely low concentration of 0.1% w/v in a relatively short time under physiological conditions. These promising findings suggest that the peptide solutions are promising bioinks for use in 3D bioprinting.

This dissertation describes the development of temperature and pH-responsive interfaces, where the emphasis is placed on tuning the responsivities within a physiological temperature range. This tuning is achieved through the utilization of polymeric building blocks, where each component is specifically synthesized to have a unique responsivity. The assembly of these components onto surfaces permits the fabrication of stimuli-responsive interfaces. In addition, this dissertation explores the use of a self-assembling peptide as a modular building block to modify the interface of hydrogel microparticles, resulting in the formation of a new biosynthetic construct. Hydrogels are three-dimensional, crosslinked polymer networks that swell in water. Over the years, hydrogels have been extensively explored as biomaterials due to their high water content, tunable mechanics, and chemical versatility. Two areas where hydrogels have received considerable interest are drug delivery and extracellular matrices. Unfortunately, developing structurally and functionally complex hydrogels from the top down is challenging because many parameters cannot be independently tuned in a bulk material. An alternative route would be to develop a library of building blocks, where each is tailored for a given function, and assemble these components into composite structures. The building block synthesized and utilized in this dissertation is a microgel. Microgels are a colloidal dispersion of hydrogel microparticles, ranging in size from 100 to 1000 nm in diameter. The microgels were prepared from environmentally responsive polymers, sensitive to both temperature and pH. Microgels have been used in the fabrication of polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer films, where the microgel serves as the polyanion and a linear polycation is used to “stitch” the particles together. In Chapters 3 and 4, stimuli-responsive interfaces are prepared from environmentally responsive microgel building blocks. In particular, Chapter 3 demonstrates tuning of the film response temperature by preparing several different microgels with differing ratios of two thermoresponsive polymers. Chapter 4 evaluates the influence of the pH environment on the thermoresponsivity of microgel films. While the pH environment was found to substantially affect some films, it is possible to prepare microgel films that behave independently of pH. The swelling/de-swelling of the films was also investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) as a function of both pH and temperature. It was determined that the AFM imaging parameters can drastically affect the measured film thicknesses (Appendix A) due to the soft, deformable nature of microgel films. The studies in these chapters illustrate the advantages of preparing composite structures from discrete components, where the functionality of the composite is dictated by the constituent particles. In Chapter 5, attention is placed on modifying the surface of microgel particles. Many of the traditional routes used to modify microgels involve the incorporation of co-monomers into the network or the addition of polymer shells. However, a new core/shell construct is presented, where a microgel core is coated with a self-assembling peptide shell. In this scenario, the peptide shell serves as a modular scaffold, where surface-localized functional groups can participate in reactions. Although there are still a number of questions remaining in regard to the assembly process and stability of the construct, initial experiments suggests that this is an interesting and promising structure to study. Finally, a discussion of future directions and possible experiments is provided in Chapter 6. Hopefully, this will serve as a guide for further exploration of the research presented herein. Microgels remain a rich class of materials to study and employ. While their synthesis is rather straightforward, their use often results in complex behavior and interesting phenomena. Understanding their behavior is a crucial step in realizing their full potential.

L’objectif de ce travail de thèse est de développer de nouveaux agents tensioactifs, capables de s’auto-assembler sous forme de micelles permettant de solubiliser les principes actifs insolubles, en vue de leur administration par voie intraveineuse. Cette étude a permis la synthèse, la caractérisation physico-chimique ainsi que l’évaluation toxicologique in vitro et in vivo de nouveaux agents tensioactifs d’origine naturelle. Au cours de cette étude, différentes familles de tensioactifs ont été évaluées. Ces nouveaux agents tensioactifs sont composés d’une partie hydrophobe de type cholestérol, sels biliaires ou lipides, associée via une fonction amide à une partie hydrophile dérivée d’acides aminés tels que la lysine, la glutamine ou l’acide glutamique.Ces travaux expérimentaux ont permis d’étudier l’influence de la flexibilité de la partie hydrophobe sur la capacité de solubilisation des tensioactifs. Cette étude a montré que l’efficacité de solubilisation est reliée à la flexibilité de la partie hydrophobe. L’utilisation d’agents tensioactifs composés d’une chaîne lipidique saturée flexible a permis de solubiliser efficacement le principe actif insoluble avec un taux de charge de 46 % (m/m). Les tensioactifs composés de lipides saturés sont donc plus efficaces en termes de solubilisation que les dérivés de stéroïdes ou de lipides polyinsaturés, moins flexibles. Les études de toxicité ont mis en évidence la relation ente la structure chimique des tensioactifs et leur toxicité, en particulier vis-à-vis des membranes cellulaires. L’introduction de doubles liaisons en configuration cis dans la partie lipidique des tensioactifs permet de diminuer leur interaction avec les membranes cellulaires et donc leur toxicité mais diminue également leur capacité de solubilisation. Le développement de nouveaux agents tensioactifs nécessite donc de trouver un compromis entre la capacité de solubilisation et la toxicité des tensioactifs. / The aim of this thesis was to develop novel surfactants, able to self-assemble into micelles and to solubilize insoluble drugs intented for intravenous injection. Natural-based surfactants were synthesized and their physico-chemical properties were evaluated. In addition, their in vitro and in vivo toxicity were evaluated. Their drug solubilization abitity was also investigated. Three surfactant classes were evaluated. They were composed of a hydrophobic moiety, such as cholesterol, bile salts or lipids, bonded to a hydrophilic moiety, deriving from amino acids, such as lysine, glutamine or glutamic acid, via an amide bond.The influence of surfactant hydrophobic moiety flexibility on drug solubilization ability was evaluated. This study evidenced that solubilization efficiency is related to the surfactant hydrophobic moiety flexibility. The use of surfactants with flexible and saturated lipidic moieties increased drug water solubility with a drug loading of 46 % (w/w). Saturated lipid-based surfactants exhibited a better solubilization efficiency, in comparison with steroid-based surfactants or poly-unsaturated-based surfactants. Toxicity studies evidenced the relation between surfactant chemical structure and their toxicity, in particular with cell membranes. The introduction of double bond in cis configuration in surfactant lipidic moiety decreased their interaction with cell membranes and thus their toxicity. In addition, this chemical modification also decreased their solubilization ability. To develop novel surfactants, it is thus necessary to take into account drug solubilization ability and toxicity of surfactants.

O celulossomo é um complexo multienzimático extracelular utilizado por bactérias anaeróbias para a degradação de biomassa vegetal. Ele é composto por escafoldinas, estruturas alongadas que abrigam diversos módulos cohesina, às quais se ligam dockerinas, seus parceiros de interação específica de alta afinidade, fusionados às enzimas celulolíticas. Os módulos cohesina e dockerina compõem o elemento central da interação entre todos os componentes que integram o celulossomo. Esses módulos são divididos em tipos, de acordo com sua sequência primária. Essa divisão reflete efeitos funcionais distintos, sendo o tipo I responsável pela ligação de enzimas às escafoldinas, enquanto o tipo II medeia a ligação de escafoldinas à célula. O celulossomo de Ruminococcus flavefaciens é o mais complexo conhecido, e na classificação por tipos, suas sequências divergem, formando o tipo III, que foi posteriormente subdividido em 6 grupos para significância funcional. Nesse sistema, o principal responsável pela integração de enzimas ao sistema é a escafoldina primária ScaA, a qual interage com escafoldina adaptadora ScaB. A especificidade dessa ligação - dockerina de ScaA (Rf-DocA) com cohesinas de ScaB (Rf-CohB1-7) - é classificada como único membro do grupo 5, na divisão de grupos que compõem o tipo III. Assim, essa interação é de suma importância para a organização do celulossomo desse organismo, tendo sido estudada por meio de experimentos biofísicos e bioquímicos. Porém a falta de uma estrutura cristalina resolvida desses componentes limita a compreensão que podemos ter sobre a interação. 1-2 Nesse trabalho, apresentamos as estruturas cristalográficas de Rf-DocA, em complexo com a Rf-CohB4, além da estrutura dessa cohesina isolada, e ainda, a Rf-CohB1, e alguns de seus mutantes pontuais. Com isso, esclarecemos aspectos estruturais desses módulos, como a presença de dois sítios funcionais de ligação a cálcio em Rf-DocA. Também é observável pelos modelos gerados, detalhes da ligação entre eles, como os resíduos participantes da interação. Estudos de afinidade entre esses módulos foram conduzidos para a elucidar algumas propriedades da ligação entre esses módulos, de forma que descobrimos que ela ocorre de uma única maneira, e que há um loop na cohesina cuja flexibilidade afeta a afinidade da ligação. Isso sugere um mecanismo de alteração conformacional que regula a ligação à dockerina. Adicionalmente, buscamos o emprego desses módulos em uma aplicação tecnológica, desenhando redes automontáveis de proteínas, visando a construção de um nanomaterial. Essas redes são formadas por características intrínsecas das proteínas que os compõem, sendo o principal fator considerado sua simetria rotacional.3 Nesse sentido, as dockerinas e cohesinas foram utilizadas para ligação entre proteínas de diferentes simetrias. Utilizamos proteínas de simetrias C3, C4 e C6 com fusão a dockerinas, que se conectam às cohesinas fusionadas a proteínas de simetria C2, as quais formam o elemento linear da ligação entre os diferentes módulos. Esse desenho experimental permite a expressão e purificação independentes dos componentes, o que facilita a obtenção das redes, a partir da mistura dos dois componentes. Através de análises preliminares por microscopia eletrônica de transmissão, observamos a formação de filmes bidimensionais extensos e nanotubos com a construção testada. / The cellulosome is an intricate multienzyme extracelular complexes evolved by anaerobic bacteria for degradation of cellulosic biomass. It is composed of scaffoldins, elongated structures, which bare numerous cohesin modules, which bind to dockerin modules, their high affinity and specificity partners, borne by cellulolytic enzymes. The cohesin and dockerina modules constitute the central element of the interaction between every component of the cellulosome. These modules are categorized in types, according to their primary sequence. That distribution reflects distinct functions, in which the type I is responsible for integration of enzymes to scaffoldins, while type II mediates anchoring of scaffoldins to the cell wall. The cellulosome of Ruminococcus flavefaciens is the most intricate known to date, which is categorized into a third type of cohesins and dockerins, due to sequence diversion. The type III was further divided into 6 groups to impart functional significance. In that system, the main enzyme integrating component is the primary scaffoldin ScaA, which interacts to the adaptor scaffoldin ScaB. The specificity of this interaction - dockerina of ScaA (Rf-DocA) to ScaB cohesins (Rf-CohB1-7) - is sorted as a single member of group 5, in the subtypes of type III. Thus, this interaction is essential for cellulosome organization, having been studied by biophysical and biochemical experiments. However, the lack of a solved crystalline structure of these components narrows our understanding on this interaction. In the present study, we present the structures of Rf-DocA, complexed to Rf-CohB4, besides the structure of this isolated cohesin, and also Rf-CohB1 and its point mutants. Due to these data, we clarify structural aspects of these modules, such as the occurrence of two functioning calcium binding sites in Rf-DocA. We also identified details of their binding, such as the interacting residues. Through binding affinity studies, we concluded that the interaction between these modules occurs in a single mode, and that there is a loop in the cohesin module whose flexibility has direct effects on the binding affinity to dockerin. Additionally, we sought to utilize these modules in a downstream application, by designing self-assembling arrays of proteins, aiming for the construction of a nanomaterial. These arrays are constructed from the intrinsic properties of its constituent proteins, in which the main factor is rotational symmetry. In this context, dockerina and cohesin modules were used of binding different symmetry proteins. We utilized C3, C4 and C6 point symmetry proteins fused to dockerin modules, which bind to the cohesin modules fused to C2 point symmetry proteins, which establish the linear connection between the distinct components. This experimental design allows for the independent expression and purification of the components, which facilitates the achievement of the arrays, by simple mixture of the two components. Through preliminary analysis by transmission election microscopy, we observed the construction of two-dimensional films and nanotubes.

<p>Peptides are a fundamental building-block of living systems and play crucial roles at both functional and structural level. Therefore, they have attracted increased attention as a platform to design and engineer new self-assembled systems that span the nano-to-meso scales. The rules of peptide design and folding enable the construction of suitable building-blocks to develop soft materials for biomaterial applications. Herein we present the use of the alpha-helical secondary structure to create two distinct structural motifs, namely coiled-coils and helical bundles. These peptide components can differ in size and incorporate a host of different functional moieties, the effects of which are described through their hierarchical assembly. </p> <p>First, we describe the self-assembly of coiled coil oligomers (trimer and tetramer) of the GCN4 leucine zipper peptide. The trimeric coiled coil was modified with varying number of aromatic groups (one to three) along each helical backbone, to facilitate higher order assemblies into banded nano- to micron-sized structures, the formation of which could be controlled reversibly as a function of pH. In addition, the electrostatic and aromatic interactions of the peptide material were harnessed for non-covalent binding of small drug molecules, followed by their subsequent pH-triggered release. Furthermore, these nanostructures are compatible with MCF-7 breast cancer cells, making them suitable drug-delivery agents for chemotherapeutics. In the absence of aromatic modifications, the coiled-coil trimer assembles into higher-order nanotubes that can be harnessed for selective encapsulation of high molecular weight biomolecules. With an increase in oligomerization from three to four, along with a single aromatic group modification on each helix, the tetrameric coiled-coil mutant successfully demonstrates a metal-assisted two-tier structural assembly into microbarrels and spheres.</p> <p>Second, we present the higher-order assembly of short tetrameric and pentameric helical bundle proteins, covalently stabilized by a belt of disulfide bridges, with metal-binding ligands at each helix termini. The addition of metals like Zn(II) and Cu(II) promote the assembly of the bundles into a 3D globular matrix, which upon thermal annealing transforms into microspheres. Additionally, these microspheres also demonstrate the metal-assisted inclusion of His-tagged fluorophores. Thus, peptide-based materials can be constructed by self-assembly of alpha-helical building blocks into systems with sophisticated, diverse morphologies and dynamic chemical properties, that can be further modulated to enhance performance for medical applications. </p>

This project focused on the study of self-assembling systems that can be inuenced by an external magnetic field, following the PhD research of Hauke Carstensen. My role was to study the behavior of beads and to optimize the tunable parameters so that the main force driving the dynamics of the system is the magnetic dipolar interaction between beads. To make sure that no other force plays an important role, we checked a number of things, the most problematic of which is flocculation in the colloid, which may happen if some beads get stuck to each other; to prevent them from aggregating we have to make sure that they have a large zeta potential, which will result in an electrically repulsive force between beads and will thus increase the stability of the colloid. We also have to make sure that other forces in the sample do not exceed the magnitude of magnetic forces between particles; examples of such forces can be the drag experienced while moving in the viscous ferrofluid, the gravity force or the random thermal movement of the molecules in the fluid. In order to study these efects, I measured the zeta potential of the magnetic and non-magnetic beads and later I added a surfactant compound (SDS) to our sample in order to increase said potential.