Engineering bacteria to biosynthesize intricate protein complexes

Protein cages found within microbes help its contents weather the harsh intracellular environment—an observation that has many bioengineering applications. Tokyo Tech researchers have recently developed an innovative bioengineering ...

Hollow porphyrinic nanospheres

Famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí once said, "Anything created by human beings is already in the great book of nature." Among different man-made architectures and art, spherical structures and shapes have been the most ...

New cages to trap molecules push boundaries of protein design

Protein design is a popular and rapidly growing field, with scientists engineering novel protein cages—capsule-like nanostructures for purposes such as gene therapy and targeted drug delivery. Many of these structures fashioned ...

Gold adds the shine of reversible assembly to protein cages

Protein cages—capsule-like structures made up of numerous protein molecules—perform roles in nature that have inspired their application in areas such as drug delivery. Their controlled assembly is therefore of particular ...