Dipartimento di Chimica

Iolanda Francolini vi invita al seminario: 

Amyloid-metal Supramolecular Hybrids for Health and Environmental Remediation Technologies

di Raffaele Mezzenga, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Il seminario si terrà martedì 15 ottobre 2024, alle ore 14, in Aula I, Ed. V. Caglioti (CU032). 

 

Abstract

Amyloid fibrils interact with metal ions via metal-ligand supramolecular interactions whose energy is of the order of tens to hundreds of KBT¹. The occurrence and abundance of the 20 essential amino acids in food-based amyloid fibrils derived from inexpensive animal and plant proteins, including from food waste and agricultural side streams, combined with the extreme aspect ratio of the amyloids, allow for an affordable, yet universal toolbox to produce multifunctional hybrids which can serve in a multitude of applications and technologies. In this talk I will provide several examples of food amyloid fibrils interacting with metal ions and nanoparticles for both health and environmental remediation, some of which have made it into real technologies. Taking b-lactoglobulin amyloids as a model amyloid system derived from whey, a by-product of cheese making process, I will show how metal ions can be adsorbed from water and wastewater solutions by amyloid-based filters for water purification purposes² , or how gold ions can be adsorbed and processed from amyloid aerogels to recycle gold from e-waste³ ; I will also show how iron atoms can be coordinated to b-lactoglobulin amyloids to deliver highly bioavailable Fe(ii) for iron fortification⁴ , or to design hydrogels capable of performing cascade enzymatic reactions for alcohol detoxification in vivo⁵.

1. M. Hammond, R. Mezzenga, Soft Matter, 2008, 4, 952–961.

2. S. Bolisetty, R. Mezzenga, 2016, Nature nanotechnology, 11 (4), 365-371,

3. M. Peydayesh et al. 2024, Advanced Materials 36 (19), 2310642

4. Y. Shen et al. Nature nanotechnology, 2017 12 (7), 642-647

5. J. Su et al. 2024, Nature nanotechnology, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-024-01657-7

 

Prof. Raffaele Mezzenga

 

Raffaele Mezzenga received his master degree (Summa Cum Laude) from Perugia University, Italy, in Materials Science and Engineering, while actively working for the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) and NASA on elementary particle-polymer interactions (NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS91). In 2001 he obtained a PhD in Polymer Physics from EPFL Lausanne, focusing on the thermodynamics of reactive polymer blends. He then spent 2001-2002 as a postdoctoral scientist at University of California, Santa Barbara, working on the self-assembly of polymer colloids. In 2003 he moved to the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne as research scientist, working on the self-assembly of surfactants, natural amphiphiles and lyotropic liquid crystals. In 2005 he was hired as Associate Professor in the Physics Department of the University of Fribourg, and he then joined ETH Zurich on 2009 as Full Professor. In 2016 he founded BluAct Technologies, an ETH Spinoff exploiting a revolutionary technology for water purification. His research focuses on the fundamental understanding of self-assembly processes in polymers, lyotropic liquid crystals, food and biological colloidal systems. Prof. Mezzenga has been a visiting Professor from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University), Nanyang Technological University Monash University and RMIT Melbourne. He is recipient of several international distinctions such as the 2011 AOCS Young Scientist Research Award [citation: "For his pioneering work on polymers, colloids and liquid crystals"], the 2013 John H. Dillon Medal and the 2017 Fellowship of the American Physical Society [citation: "For exceptional contributions to the understanding of self-assembly principles and their use to design and control materials with targeted functionalities"], the Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules 2013 Young Investigator Award of the American Chemical Society [citation: “In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the fundamental understanding of self-assembly processes in polymers and biological colloidal systems”], and the 2004 Swiss Science National Foundation Professorship Award.