Keynote
PEPTIDE BASED BIOELECTRONIC MATERIALS

Proteins function as mediators of charge carriers` transport, inspires their use as bio-electronic materials. However, fundamental differences in the mode of action of proteins and electronic devices, and, in addition, technological complications in extracting proteins and assembling them in functional device configurations, may hamper attempts to cultivate these natural charge transport phenomena in technological applications. To overcome such difficulties, our group aims at developing bio-inspired materials based on de-novo designs of peptides (short proteins) that capture many of the features of proteins, and are optimized for promoting charge transport. In this talk, I will demonstrate the use of self-assembling peptide motifs for the development of conductive materials. I will describe how the conductivity of the materials can be modulated by the specific choice of peptide side chains and backbone motifs. I will show that the conductivity can be farther tuned by selecting and controlling peptide assembly conditions. The structure function relationships we reveal can be used for the design of novel biocompatible organic electronic devices.