Margarida Casal

Synthetic Biology as a powerful tool in the development of bioinspired smart materials Full Professor in the Department of Biology of University of Minho; Deputy Director of the Molecular and Environmental Biology Centre

Abstract

Advanced materials are essential to human well-being with applications in multiple industries. The speed of development and processing of advanced materials is crucial to achieve global competitiveness, and may represent a revolutionary milestone in the technological developments of the 21st century where recyclability is an obliged material parameter. Materials science and engineering has recently expanded to the study of biological materials due to the significant progresses made in this field. In fact, the recognition of the mechanics linking the nano- and micro-scale structure with the macromolecular assembly and organization, enabled molecular biologists to understand Nature’s refined ways of creating high performance structural materials. Proteins are abundant macromolecules and the main natural building blocks for all the living organisms. Fulfilling a wide range of specialized functions, the structural proteins represent the utmost case of function specialisation and high performance materials. The repetition of conservative blocks of amino acid sequences are arranged in a way that create elastic, rigid or tough materials responsible for the particular mechanical properties of proteins like elastin and silk. However, in the development of structural polymers for biotechnological applications there is the need to precisely control the macromolecular structure. For this purpose, the use of Synthetic Biology approaches provides the means and the necessary tools to fill the gap between the concept and fabrication of recombinant protein-based polymers (rPBPs). Indeed, by combining molecular biotechnology and materials science, we are in a position to produce recombinant PBPs that provide new answers to the limitations of current materials, constituting a new generation of bio-inspired materials with smart-high performance features tailored for specific purposes. This presentation will demonstrate some applications of rPBPs for biotechnological purposes, with special focus on two of the most remarkable proteins present in Nature, elastin and silk fibroin.

Resume

Present position: Full Professor in the Department of Biology of University of Minho; Deputy Director of the Molecular and Environmental Biology Centre (cbma.bio.uminho.pt), 2007–present. Research interest: Synthetic Biology through the design and bioproduction of recombinant protein-based polymers for biotechnological and biomedical applications. She authored 6 book chapter and about 80 peer reviewed publications, with an H-index of 20 and 8 awarded national and international patents.