Transcript Bottom-up Nanobiotechnology

Bottom-up NanoBiotechnology:
from Membrane proteins to BioSolar Power
October 12th 2006
Andreas Mershin, PhD & Brian Cook
P.I. Shuguang Zhang, PhD
Lab for Molecular Self Assembly
[email protected], [email protected]
http://web.mit.edu/lms/www/
Self-Assembling Peptides stabilize
membrane proteins
Nano-Bio-PhotoVoltaic
Dog on a chip
Solid State Devices
Andreas Mershin
Center For Biomedical Engineering
Surfactant/detergent peptides can be designed to stabilize
membrane proteins in unnatural environments such as
bioelectronic circuits or sensors.
Peptide stabilization can help in crystallization studies
Andreas Mershin
Center For Biomedical Engineering
1st Generation (flat monolayer) devices now in the Boston
Museum of Science. Good concept but very low power and
efficiency
<1µm
Nature,
Boston Globe
AP,Reuters,
CNN,
NYT, FT,
BBC, etc.
Biomimicry resonates with people
Andreas Mershin
Center For Biomedical Engineering
Electric Nanoforest: ZnO nanowires are
transparent, conducting tree-trunks
ZnO transparent and
conducting
nanowires grown
using CVD (high T)
or wet deposition
(low temp)
High surface area,
transparent,
conducting, biofriendly,
enhancement factor
~200-2000

 1

Aold
 1  2Rh 
 200
2
Anew
(R  g ) 
Andreas Mershin
Center For Biomedical Engineering
Self-assembled “velcro”
+
PS1
natural
PsaD
+
ZnO-PS1
ZnO-PsaD
IV
ITO
ZnO
PS-I
ZnO-binding peptide
sequence
(GLHIPTGSSYSHR)
• Direct attachment
(less R, more I)
ZnO NW
ITO
GLASS
Device architecture
Andreas Mershin
Center For Biomedical Engineering
Olfactory receptors: smell background
 The mammalian nose has the ability to rapidly
distinguish between an enormous range of small
molecules at low concentrations
 The proteins responsible are olfactory receptors
(ORs), a large class of sensory proteins which
function combinatorially to allow the brain to
discriminate odors
 Currently, the molecular mechanism by which this
receptor set functions is unknown
Andreas Mershin
Center For Biomedical Engineering
Olfactory receptors: purification
 Tagged and optimized OR genes
are synthesized (PCR-based gene
assembly) then inserted into
“producer” cell lines
 OR production is then “induced”
in cell culture and the proteins
harvested out and purified via the
affinity tags (using HPLC)
Olfactory receptors: structural & functional measurement
 Structure: 2º confirmed via CD
spectroscopy, 3º to be done with X-ray
crystallography
 Function: odorant binding via SPR
(Biacore), plus other methods
 Beyond: construction of prototype
smell “biosensors” utilizing OR proteins
Andreas Mershin
Center For Biomedical Engineering