Center for Functional Nanomaterials Seminar

"Amyloid Self-Assembly and Sequence-Dependent Interactions with Plasmonic Nanoparticles"

Presented by Shih-Ting (Christine) Wang, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Thursday, January 19, 2017, 2:00 pm — CFN, Bldg 735, Conference Room A, 1st Floor

Nanoparticles (NPs) have been used to inhibit or modulate the peptide fibrillation as a potential therapeutic strategy and to understand the molecular mechanisms of amyloid diseases. Particularly, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely used to study peptide/inorganic NP interactions due to the tunable size, surface and plamonic properties. In this talk, I will present the study of interaction of AuNPs with islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), which features in type 2 diabetes pathogenesis by self-assembly into fibrils and peptide-induced disruption of cell membranes. Amyloid fibrils share a distinct β-sheet structure, with the structural diversity controlled by the amino acid sequence. To elucidate the key mechanisms of amyloid self-assembly and provide unique viewpoints on the interactions with NPs, polymorphic fibril structures will firstly be discussed using amyloidogenic peptides that are designed based on the IAPP sequence. The observed amyloid fibrillation and hydrogelation controlled by the peptide structure also led to a proposed relationship between amyloid structure and self-assembly behaviour. Next, I will present the systematic study of IAPP/AuNP interactions, in which the strong binding is initiated by the metal-binding sequence in the hydrophilic peptide domain. Structural transition accelerated in a NP size-dependent manner also implies a facet-dependent IAPP/AuNP interaction. Based on these findings, liquid cell transmission electron microscopy was used for direct visualisation of the dynamic growth of AuNPs in presence of IAPP fibrils. The results show growth of branch(star)-shaped AuNPs in the presence of IAPP fibrils, suggesting a preferred nucleation site for Au binding and subsequent growth on the amyloid template.

Hosted by: Oleg Gang

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