Doctoral defence of Yin Yin
- maryamborghei
- Oct 17, 2024
- 1 min read
Yin Yin defended her doctoral dissertation on Friday 18.10.2024 at Aalto University.
Title of the thesis: Assembly of silk-like proteins towards functional bio-inspired materials
Opponent: Prof., Kristaps Jaudzems, Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Latvia
Supervisor: Prof. Markus Linder & Prof. Sesilja Aranko, Aalto University
Summery of the thesis: In this thesis, silk-like proteins were used as building blocks to develop functional materials through Liquid-liquid phase separation, aided by the SpyCatcher-SpyTag protein pair. This research led to the development of a strong adhesive by combining silk-like proteins with mussel foot proteins. It also utilized the intrinsically disordered sequence from spider silk to selectively recruit proteins into silk-like protein-based condensates. Additionally, the study found that phosphate induces β-sheet structures in silk proteins, affecting fiber formation, and explored the assembly pathways involved in LLPS. Overall, this research provides strategies and insights for designing silk-based materials with specific properties, such as adhesives, selective recruitment condensates, and fibers, thereby expanding the possibilities for biomaterials inspired by nature.
The thesis will be available at :Assembly of silk-like proteins towards functional bio-inspired materials
