Application of Thermoresponsive Intrinsically Disordered Protein Polymers in Nanostructured and Microstructured...

Modulation of inter- and intramolecular interactions between bioinspired designer molecules can be harnessed for developing functional structures that mimic the complex hierarchical organization of multicomponent assemblies observed in nature. Furthermore, such multistimuli-responsive molecules offer orthogonal tunability for generating versatile multifunctional platforms via independent biochemical and biophysical cues. In this review, the remarkable physicochemical and mechanical properties of genetically engineered protein polymers derived from intrinsically disordered proteins, specifically elastin and resilin, are discussed. This review highlights emerging technologies which use them as building blocks in the fabrication of highly programmable structured biomaterials for applications in delivery of biotherapeutic cargo and regenerative medicine.