Biomedical subjects

Amihay Freeman

Publications and source records attributed to Amihay Freeman.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Protein-mediated nanoscale biotemplating.

Biomimetics--the concept of taking ideas from nature and implementing them in technology--has found particular use for the development of nanoscale materials. One such approach employs protein-mediated biotemplating for the nanostructuring of inorganic material. Recently, two key advances have been witnessed in this field. Firstly, the number of successfully employed biotemplates, including feasibility demonstrations of using three-dimensional crystalline structures, has been expanded. Secondly, the introduction of site-directed mutations on the protein template, or the display of peptides that exhibit effective biorecognition sequences for inorganic structures, has led to substantial improvements in our ability to control protein-mediated biotemplating. Taken together, these achievements will pave the way for the successful application of protein-mediated biotemplating in the future.

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PubMed2006

Monitoring the stability of crosslinked protein crystals biotemplates: a feasibility study.

Protein crystals, routinely prepared for the elucidation of protein 3D structures by X-ray crystallography, present an ordered and highly accurate 3D array of protein molecules. Inherent to the 3D arrangement of the protein molecules in the crystal is a complementary 3D array of voids made of interconnected cavities and exhibiting highly ordered porosity. The permeability of the porosity of chemically crosslinked enzyme protein crystals to low molecular weight solutes, was used for enzyme mediated organic synthesis and size exclusion chromatography. This permeability might be extended to explore new potential applications for protein crystals, for example, their use as bio-templates for the fabrication of novel, nano-structured composite materials. The quality of composites obtained from "filling" of the ordered voids in protein crystals and their potential applications will be strongly dependent upon an accurate preservation of the order in the original protein crystal 3D array during the "filling" process. Here we propose and demonstrate the feasibility of monitoring the changes in 3D order of the protein array by a step-by-step molecular level monitoring of a model system for hydrogel bio-templating by glutaraldehyde crosslinked lysozyme crystals. This monitoring is based on step-by-step comparative analysis of data obtained from (i) X-ray crystallography: resolution, unit cell dimensions and B-factor values and (ii) fluorescence decay kinetics of ultra-fast laser activated dye, impregnated within these crystals. Our results demonstrated feasibility of the proposed monitoring approach and confirmed that the stabilized protein crystal template retained its 3D structure throughout the process.

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PubMed2004

Screening of large protein libraries by the cell immobilized on adsorbed bead approach.

Screening of mutant libraries for in vitro enzyme evolution is carried out primarily by physical separation of the cells, followed by growth of individual clones and screening of biocatalytic activity on the basis of color or fluorescence signal development. Currently, most frequently employed methods are labor-intensive or require robotic equipment, resulting in screening limited to a relatively small fraction of the potential inherent in a given library. In this study we present a design, development, and feasibility demonstration of a new screening approach, providing convenient handling of large libraries consisting of 106 to 107 clones and screening based on a simultaneous enzymatic assay with commercially available substrates. This new screening method is based on the "cell immobilized on adsorbed bead" approach: the cell population to be screened is mixed with an excess of medium pre-equilibrated polyacrylamide beads, chemically derivatized to affect quantitative cell immobilization by adsorption. The resulting bead population, comprising of single cell on a bead or blank beads, is then immobilized on a solid glass support. After removal of the freely flowing liquid, the cells immobilized on the adsorbed beads are allowed to grow into microcolonies, utilizing the medium retained within the supporting hydrogel matrix. These colonies are subsequently equilibrated with chromogenic or fluorogenic substrate and screening is affected under a stereomicroscope, resulting in readily retrieved of the most active colonies. This technique may be particularly useful when the screened mutants are expressed and displayed on the cell surface, providing an active and homogeneous "naturally immobilized" enzyme population with minimal substrate diffusion limitations.

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