Biological Soft Materials

Abstract

With one or two exceptions, biological materials are "soft", meaning that they combine viscous and elastic elements. This mechanical behavior results from self-assembled supramolecular structures that are stabilized by noncovalent interactions. It is an ongoing and profound challenge to understand the self-organization of biological materials. In many cases, concepts can be imported from soft-matter physics and chemistry, which have traditionally focused on materials such as colloids, polymers, surfactants, and liquid crystals. Using these ideas, it is possible to gain a new perspective on phenomena as diverse as DNA condensation, protein and peptide fibrillization, lipid partitioning in rafts, vesicle fusion and budding, and others, as discussed in this selective review of recent highlights from the literature.

Bio‐inspired Design and Additive Manufacturing of Soft Materials, Machines, Robots, and Haptic Interfaces

“…[2,3] Even acursory look at nature reveals myriad biological organisms,o rgans, tissues,a nd behaviors that are "soft". [4] Gaining inspiration from abiological point of view is anatural and efficient way when designing robots and systems from soft materials. Additive manufacturing and many other rapid prototyping techniques have led to technologies that can produce objects from aw ide variety of materials and almost any complex shape,t hus significantly expanding the variety of robots, machines,a nd haptic interfaces based on soft materials.…”

Modulating peptide amphiphile morphology by gold nanocolloids

“…Amphiphilic peptides offer exciting potential as building blocks of novel (bio) materials [1][2][3][4][5]. In this regard, control of self-assembly of peptides, using varied design strategies to afford ordered structures, is a key challenge and a dynamic field of research [6][7][8].…”

Reversible DNA Condensation Induced by a Tetranuclear Nickel(II) Complex

“…The essence of gene therapy is to deliver extrinsic genes into host cells to replace or override the defective genes causative of genetic abnormalities or deficiencies 1. DNA condensation is an essential precondition for transporting a therapeutic gene to its target position,2 because compact structures protect DNA from nuclease3 and facilitate its entry into cells by endocytosis 4. Genes can be delivered by viral or nonviral vectors.…”