Amyloids as building blocks for macroscopic functional materials: Designs, applications and challenges

Abstract

Amyloids are self-assembled protein aggregates that take cross-β fibrillar morphology. Although some amyloid proteins are best known for their association with Alzheimer’s and Parkin-son’s disease, many other amyloids are found across diverse organisms, from bacteria to humans, and they play vital functional roles. The rigidity, chemical stability, high aspect ratio, and sequence programmability of amyloid fibrils have made them attractive candidates for functional materials with applications in environmental sciences, material engineering, and translational medicines. This review focuses on recent advances in fabricating various types of macroscopic functional amyloid ma-terials. We discuss different design strategies for the fabrication of amyloid hydrogels, high-strength materials, composite materials, responsive materials, extracellular matrix mimics, conductive materi-als, and catalytic materials.