4. Bio-compatible Nanomaterials

Protein nanowires exhibiting specific biological activities hold promise for interacting with living cells and controlling and predicting biological responses such as apoptosis, endocytosis, and cell adhesion. In this chapter, fabrication of various size-controlled protein nanowires by single-particle nanofabrication technique (SPNT) is reviewed. The human serum albumin (HSA) nanowires of various lengths can be fabricated, from HSA nanodots to HSA nanowires with extremely high aspect ratios of over 1000, by controlling the thickness of the film. The diameters of the protein nanowires are almost equal to the diameter of self-assembled protein and peptide nanostructures. Degradation of the HSA nanowires was examined using protease. The biotinylated human serum albumin nanowires can be transformed into nanowires exhibiting a biological function such as an enzyme through using avidin–biotin interaction. Interestingly, 2D Protein sheets and protein synthetic polymer nanowires can be fabricated by the application of SPNT. SPNT is a versatile platform for functionalizing the surface of any protein molecule with an extremely large surface area.