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Protein-based materials are often leveraged for a wide range of applications in different fields such as electronics, optics, and medicine. Within this context, unique structural proteins called reflectins have garnered attention not only for their key roles in cephalopods’ color-changing abilities but also their demonstrated potential for the fabrication of different infrared camouflage coatings, proton transporting media, and substrates for neural stem cell growth. However, the peculiar sequence composition of reflectins has made them extremely sensitive to subtle changes in environmental conditions and prone to aggregation, thus significantly complicating the study of their structure-function relationships which impedes the development of reflectin-based functional materials. In this section of the sub-group, we investigate the structural characteristics, assembly, and material properties of different reflectin variants in solution and in films. We aim to further explore the utility of these proteins for the fabrication of stimuli-responsive photonic architectures, proton conducting devices, and protonic transistors for bioelectronics and biophotonics applications.

Related Publications

Bulk Protonic Conductivity in a Cephalopod Structural Protein

Ordinario, D. D.; Phan, L. Walkup IV, W. G.; Jocson, J-M.; Karshalev, E.; Hüsken, N.; Gorodetsky, A. A.; Nature Chemistry, 2014, 6, pp. 596-602.

Article
Structure, Self-assembly, and Properties of a Truncated Reflectin Variant

Umerani, M. J.; Pratakshya, P.; Chatterjee, A.; Cerna Sanchez, J. A.; Kim, H. S.; Ilc, G.; Kovačič, M.; Magnan, C.; Marmiroli, B.; Sartori, B.; Kwansa, A. L.; Orins, H.; Bartlett, A. W.; Leung, E. M.; Feng, Z.; Naughton, K. L.; Norton-Baker, B.; Phan, L.; Long, J.; Allevato, A.; Leal-Cruz, J. E.; Lin, Q.; Baldi, P.; Bernstorff, S.; Plavec, J.; Yingling, Y. G.; Gorodetsky, A. A.; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020, 117(52), pp. 32891-32901.

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