Recent research by Alice Bluein and Jennifer McManus in the department of chemistry has been featured on the front cover of the most recent issue of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B. The work describes the formation and characterisation of a protein “Bigel”. A bigel is a material formed from two discrete polymer networks that are intertwined in such a way that the resulting product has better mechanical properties than either of the individual networks alone. This paper describes the formation of a bigel network from two proteins for the first time. The protein bigel is 4 times stronger than the combined strength of the two individual protein gels. Hydrogels are used in a variety of applications, including drug delivery, as scaffolds for cell growth and as biomimetics. Protein-only hydrogels are often weak, which can limit the range of applications for which they can be used. The protein bigels described by Blumlein and McManus have the potential to overcome many of these limitations. The full article can be read here:
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/tb/c5tb00131e#!divAbstract
This work was funded by a Maynooth University Teaching Fellowship to Alice Blumlein and a Science Foundation Ireland Stokes Lectureship to Jennifer McManus.
