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IBEC Seminar: Carlos Rodríguez Cabello
martes, octubre 1, 2019 @ 10:00 am–11:00 am
Dynamic Systems Based on Elastin-Like Recombinamers
Carlos Rodríguez Cabello, Bioforge Lab, University of Valladolid CIBER-BBN
The use of recombinant technology in the production of macromolecule-based advanced biomaterials has caused a breakthrough increase in achievable degree of complexity and control on the molecular designs and compositions. Those recombinant macromolecules of polpeptide nature are called recombinamers. They are produced from a purely synthetic gene, in which the amino-acid sequence is not restricted to those found in naturally occurring proteins and it is dictated only by engineering design parameters. The high degree of complexity and control of the recombinamer compositions permit to reach unmatched levels of functionality in the materials produced by this way and on the systems based on them.
The development of functionality in such systems comes by to different ways. In one hand, these materials can display direct functionality. Such functionality is based on the presence in their composition of functional epitopes, typically inspired by functional epitopes found in natural proteins. The other source of functionality is the holistic functionality that emerges by the precise combination and interactions of direct functions in a precise and well designed macromolecular composition. This holistic function is particularly evident in system with a dynamic nature; systems that rearrange and respond to changes in their environment.
Examples of such dynamic systems will be presented. The examples will expand from complex 3D structures for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering that are able to incorporate a designed program of degradation and time evolution, to more fundamental matters such as the hierarchical spontaneous development of morphology and macroscopical shapes in natural and artificial systems.
Dr. Rodríguez-Cabello is a full professor at the Dept. of Condensed Matter Physics of the University of Valladolid (UVa) Spain. During his career he has been teaching courses related to physics of polymers and biomaterials science in both undergraduate and graduate levels. In 1997, he founded BIOFORGE in the UVa, which nowadays is an internationally recognized and word leading group in the field of recombinamers. His current research interests include the development of biofunctional, smart and customized protein polymers towards obtaining advanced biomedical devices.
