Stimuli-responsive “smart biomedical application

Combining peptide sequences and synthetic polymers is useful not only for enhanced control over nanoscale structure formation, but also for production of biologically interactive materials. Biomimetic hybrid polymers may also produce sophisticated superstructures with new material properties. Smart materials based on polypeptides may reversibly change conformation and associated properties in response to an environmental stimulus, such as a shift in pH or temperature (Rodriguez-Hernandez et ah, 2005). Polypeptide block copolymers may also be used as model systems to study generic self-assembly processes in natural proteins. Obviously, such materials could be of significant interest for a variety of biomedical and bioanalytical applications. 

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