Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
OrganaBio LLC, 7800 SW 57th Ave, South Miami, FL, 33143, USA.
Macromol Biosci. 2022 Aug;22(8):e2200122. doi: 10.1002/mabi.202200122. Epub 2022 Jun 24.
Genetically engineered silk-elastin-like-proteins (SELPs) synthesized with the combination of silk and elastin domains are bioengineered to also contain a graphene oxide (GO) binding domain. The conductivity and mechanical stability of graphene, combined with SELP-specific graphene interfaces are pursued as dynamic hybrid materials, toward biomaterial-based electronic switches. The resulting bioengineered proteins with added GO demonstrate cytocompatibility and conductivity that could be modulated by changing hydrogel size in response to temperature due to the SELP chemistry. Upon increased temperature, the gels coalesce and contract, providing sufficient condensed spacing to facilitate conductivity via the graphene domains, a feature that is lost at lower temperatures with the more expanded hydrogels. This thermally induced contraction-expansion is reversible and cyclable, providing an "on-off" conductive switch driven by temperature-driven hydrogel shape-change.
采用丝素和弹性蛋白结构域组合合成的基因工程丝弹性蛋白类似物（SELPs）被进一步工程化为包含氧化石墨烯（GO）结合结构域。将氧化石墨烯的导电性和机械稳定性与 SELP 特定的石墨烯界面相结合，用作动态杂化材料，以实现基于生物材料的电子开关。通过改变水凝胶的尺寸来响应温度，从而改变 SELP 化学性质，使所得的具有添加 GO 的生物工程化蛋白质具有细胞相容性和导电性。随着温度的升高，凝胶会凝聚和收缩，从而提供足够的凝聚间距，通过石墨烯域促进导电性，而在较低温度下，由于水凝胶的扩展，这种特性会丧失。这种热诱导的收缩-膨胀是可逆和可循环的，提供了一种由温度驱动的水凝胶形状变化驱动的“开-关”导电开关。
