报告题目：Bioinspired synthesis and conformational modulation of polypeptide materials
报告时间：2019年4月25日（星期四）上午10：00
报告地点：科学楼901
报告摘要
Polypeptides from polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) are regarded as synthetic mimics of natural proteins, which not only improve our understanding on protein structures and properties, but also provide new, functional materials for biomedical applications. However, the requirements of extremely high monomer purity and stringent water-free conditions to prepare well-defined polypeptides greatly limit the studies and applications of polypeptide materials. Inspired by protein synthesis, we developed a water/oil biphasic system that resembles the function of ribozyme, which was used to directly polymerize non-purified NCAs. Well-defined polypeptides with predictable molecular weights and narrow dispersity were obtained without tedious monomer purification and anhydrous setup. One unique feature of synthetic polypeptides is their secondary structure-dependent properties. Therefore, the design of conformationally switchable polypeptides has drawn increasing attention in recent years. We discovered for the first time that the side-chain donor-acceptor hydrogen bonding interactions can be used to modulate the secondary structure of polypeptides. Triazole-based polypeptides were therefore designed, which exhibited reversible, pH-dependent conformational changes due to acid-triggered changes in side-chain hydrogen bonding pattern. These stimuli-responsive polypeptides were further used as acid-activated cell-penetrating polymers.
个人简介
宋子元，2007-2011年本科就读于北京大学化学与分子工程学院，师从李子臣教授和杜福胜教授，从事可控自由基聚合的研究，于2011年获得材料化学学士学位。2011-2017年博士就读于美国伊利诺伊大学厄本那-香槟分校（UIUC）材料科学与工程系，师从程建军教授，主要研究功能化聚多肽的设计、构象、合成以及生物应用，于2017年获得材料科学与工程博士学位。2017年毕业后在伊利诺伊大学厄本那-香槟分校材料科学与工程系做博士后至今。以第一作者和共同第一作者的身份在Nat. Commun. 、J. Am. Chem. Soc. 、Chem. Soc. Rev. 等国际顶级学术杂志发表论文十余篇，以共同作者的身份在Nat. Chem. 、Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 、Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 、Adv. Mater. 等杂志发表论文30余篇，总引用次数超过1600次。
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