From Pathological Amyloids to Functional Biomaterials

Our lab research focus on self-assembly processes in biopolymers to understand structure-function relationships, with emphasis on studies related to biomaterials made of natural proteins and peptides and design of bio-inspired nanomaterials. The studies include a variety of fibrous proteins, including functional as well as pathogenic amyloids, food proteins and silks. The lab has pioneered the study on controlling self-assembly processes in highly aggregation-prone material such as Native silk and its impact on stabilization/inhibition of aggregation in pathogenic amyloids. These systems are used to study diseases associated with neurodegenerative disorder, including for screening of therapeutic compounds. Our goal is to unravel the evolution, biology, physics and chemistry of the biomaterials made of self-assembled natural building blocks.