Precise pore-forming assemblies of bioinspired foldamers for selective water translocation – AQUAFOLDAMERS

The design and precise construction of biomimetic self-assembling folded systems in aqueous conditions is a challenging yet potentially highly rewarding endeavor, contributing to the development of new biomaterials, catalysts, drug-delivery systems and tools for the manipulation of biological processes. The aim of this project is to create protein-like nanostructures as synthetic water pores and novel ion channels by using (i) non-natural sequence-specific urea-based folded oligomers, and (ii) a fabrication process in aqueous conditions mimicking those at work in proteins (i.e. hierarchical structure formation). We will achieve this by: (i) engineering oligourea sequences that self-assemble into nanostructures with inherent porosity through combination of folding (helix formation), hydrophobic packing and eventually metal coordination or inter-helix crosslinking; (ii) reconstituting pore-like multimeric foldamers into lipid membranes; and (iii) evaluating the foldamer-based synthetic pores for water or ion channel translocation.