Biological systems have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in generating a great variety of biopolymers with functions that are beyond the reach of traditional synthetic macromolecules. The development of the bio-inspired polymeric materials that mimic the sequences, structures, or functions of the biopolymers will not only improve the material properties of these synthetic systems, but also provide significant opportunities to enable novel bioactive functions that complement, or even exceed those of the biopolymers. This seminar will present two case studies involving these bio-inspired polymeric materials. The first part will illustrate a strategy to directly engineer live cell surfaces through cell surface-initiated controlled radical polymerization and highlight its utility in significantly improving the grafting efficiency and enable the active manipulation of cellular phenotypes. The second part of the talk will describe the design and implementation of a directed evolution system for the discovery of a carbohydrate-nucleic acid hybrid material with high specificity for lectin recognition. Taken together, these examples of bio-inspired polymeric materials have revealed unique structures and exciting potentials at the convergence of synthetic polymers and biopolymers.
Jia Niu (University of California, Santa Barbara)