Engineering the Plague Capsular Antigen (Caf1) Protein: A Thermally Reformable Protein Polymer
International Conference Biomolecular Engineering ICBE
2020
ICBE Asia 2020 - 10th International Conference on Biomolecular Engineering
General Submissions
Technical Session 1: Enzyme Engineering
Tuesday, January 7, 2020 - 10:55am to 11:20am
Here, we engineer Caf1 mutants containing signals involved in osteogenesis, and combine these to form a âmosaicâ Caf1 polymer that can trigger the early stages of bone formation when used as a scaffold for bone marrow stromal cells. We next demonstrate that denatured Caf1 polymers can self-assemble into oligomers, including mosaic oligomers, allowing us to control the composition of bioactive subunits within the material. Finally, we show that we can use this property to create thermally reformable Caf1 hydrogels, providing a simple and effective route towards cell encapsulation within the 3D material. We anticipate that these developments will increase Caf1âs utility as a biomaterial for use in 3D cell culture, as well as other applications.