Tezcan Lab Engineers the First Metal-Organic Framework Constructed from Protein Building Blocks

A team of researchers from the Tezcan Lab in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego have successfully engineered a protein to self-assemble with metal ions and organic linkers to form the first ternary protein-based metal-organic framework (MOF). Their work introduces a new strategy for the rational design of protein crystals as well as a new class of hybrid materials that combine the ability to design, fine tune, and crystallize MOFs with the chemical and structural versatility of proteins. The new materials could be useful for protein drug delivery, new types of biocatalysts, and molecular electronic devices. The research team included Professor Akif Tezcan (Principal Investigator), Dr. Pamela Sontz, Postdoctoral Scholar, Jake Bailey (Graduate Student) and Sophia Ahn (Undergraduate Student). Their research article was published in Chemical & Engineering News and the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), selected as the ACS Editors' Choice by ACS Publications Group, and the Top Most Read Article in JACS in August 2015. To view the full research article click <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b07463?source=cen"target="_blank">here</a>