Membrane Re-Engineering for Regenerative Medicine
We have developed a new class of biomolecular nanohybrid structures via the reengineering of protein surfaces with polymer surfactants. Significantly, though rational design the polymer surfactant corona, the cell membrane affinity can be tuned to facilitate effective insertion of the nanoconjugates into human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) membranes, while retaining the native function of the protein at the cell surface.
The charge-neutral stoichiometric bioconjugates display an amphiphilic corona containing PEG and hydrophobic tail moieties of the surfactant, which act to preserve the protein structure and promote cell adhesion respectively.
Significantly, these modifications can be performed without compromising protein structure, dynamics and function, and under aqueous conditions, the hybrid bioconjugates exhibit high cell membrane affinities. Moreover, by varying the chemical composition and density of the polymer surfactant corona, the cell membrane affinity can be tuned to facilitate effective insertion of the nanoconjugates into human mesenchymal stem cell membranes, while retaining the native function of the protein at the cell surface.
The “painted” hMSCs retain their ability to proliferate, undergo multi-lineage differentiation, and our recent studies have shown that myoglobin bioconjugates provide a reservoir of oxygen capable of inhibiting necrosis at the centre of hyaline cartilage during tissue engineering.
