Engineering Protein-based Supramolecular Nanomaterials as Alternative Antibacterial Agents

The emergence or increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance represents a global public health concern and has stimulated urgent demand and research into developing alternative approaches or solutions. Owing to their desirable characteristics such as high biocompatibility, biodegradability, enhanced bioavailability, structural stability and functional versatility, protein-based nanomaterials/biomaterials have gained considerable attention for biomedical and biotechnological applications including drug delivery, cancer therapeutics, vaccines, immunotherapies, biosensing and biocatalysis. However, the development of these notable protein nanostructures as next-generation antibacterial candidates has not been achieved to date. Herein, this thesis explores a novel class of protein-based nanomaterials with tailored morphologies as alternative antibacterial agents.

Author requested conversion to open access 13 Jan 2023