Skip to main content
Log in

Biomimetic materials

Polymeric protagonists for biological processes

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Chemistry

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Complexity is a hallmark of biological systems, but scientific experiments are typically conducted in simplified conditions. Now, diverse polymers that mimic the local environments of complex biological mixtures have been shown to improve protein folding, stability and function.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Random heteropolymers simplify protein sequences.

References

  1. Fulton, A. B. Cell 30, 345–347 (1982).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Minton, A. P. J. Cell Sci. 119, 2863–2869 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Ruan, Z. et al. Nature 615, 251–258 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Panganiban, B. et al. Science 359, 1239–1243 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Hilburg, S. L., Ruan, Z., Xu, T. & Alexander-Katz, A. Macromolecules 53, 9187–9199 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Jiang, T. et al. Nature 577, 216–220 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Neuman, K. C. & Nagy, A. Nat. Methods 5, 491–505 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Danielle J. Mai.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gudinas, A.P., Mai, D.J. Polymeric protagonists for biological processes. Nat. Chem. 15, 751–752 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01219-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01219-9

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation