Surface biofunctionalization: a biomimetic strategy in materials design.

ARISTIZABAL BEDOYA, DARIANA; MARTÍN, MARÍA LAURA; STRAGLIOTTO, MARÍA FERNANDA; VASTI, CECILIA; VALENTI, LAURA; ROJAS, RICARDO; GIACOMELLI, CARLA

San Pablo

Congreso; IUPAC 49th General Assembly; 2017

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)

Surface biofunctionalization plays a central role in designing new materials with the right properties for each function. In fact, it has been used in a wide variety of systems as a powerful strategy to improve their performance in biosensing, biocatalysis, drug delivery, tissue engineering, etc. Probably, the modification of solid substrates with proteins is one of the most exploited biofunctionalization strategies for materials design due to the intrinsic activity of native proteins. The critical condition to transfer the functionalities of native proteins to solid substrates, relies on understanding the magnitude of the surface perturbation on the 3D structure of the biomolecule. To mention a few representative examples, the effect of the adsorption process on the conformation of enzymes determines the biosensors performance, the modification of drug carriers with proteins changes the release rate and site-specificity, and tuning the surface properties of prostheses and implants with proteins controls the biocompatibility response. From these examples, it is clear that modulating the type of interaction and its effect on the conformation of proteins is crucial to achieve suitable surface biofunctionalization when designing new materials.This work is aimed at discussing different biomaterial designs based on biomimetic strategies in which surface biofunctionalization with proteins plays a major role [1-3]. Proteins were used to improve the performance of drug nanocarriers as well as antimicrobial surfaces. The biomaterials were designed with a bottom up idea from the synthesis of the nanocarriers or the substrates modifications up to the incorporation of the biomolecules. With such a purpose, the systems were characterized using a variety of experimental techniques, like electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance, dynamic light scattering and electrophoretic mobilities. Finally, the biofunctionalized biomaterials were studied in biological relevant media in the absence and presence of cells.Protein biofunctionalization improves the colloidal stability of drug nanocarriers in biological fluids, modifies the drug delivery profile and enables a better interaction with cell membranes. Further, the structure of the adsorbed protein during biofunctionalization modulates bacterial adhesion and growth on the surface of implants.