Fundamental aspects of peptide self-assembly

In this project we will address some fundamental aspects of peptide self-assembly.

Particular research questions involve: (i) Kinetic versus thermodynamic stability and the proper identification of equilibrium states. (ii) Development of a simple thermodynamic model that accounts for the different observed aggregation structures and their relative stability. (iii) Identify and quantify key rate determining processes in aggregate growth and dissolution kinetics.

Our strategy is to work experimentally with a library of simple designed peptides allowing for systematic studies with useful comparisons, so that different contributions to the molecular interactions can be identified and possibly quantified.

The long term goal is to establish a deep and fundamental understanding of peptide self-assembly, which we argue is still strongly lacking in this field, and which is highly important for many peptide applications, as in biomaterials or in peptide therapeutics.