Natural proteins constitute polymer network for the first time

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratory have created neural like polymer nanotube connections with self-healing capabilities and many prominent filaments to collect or transmit electrical pulses Science and technology daily, Beijing, August 27 (reporter Hua Ling) researchers from Sandia National Laboratory of the United States have created a polymer nanotube connection with similar neural structure and self-healing ability, whose prominent filaments can collect or transmit electric pulses The results were published in the latest issue of nanoscale "For the first time, natural proteins are chemically assembled to create complex structures of polymers that modern machines cannot replicate," said George bashander, a researcher at the lab Researcher Wally Paxton said: "although this is a basic science, we see an application possibility, that is to use these soft artificial structures to make painless connection with the nervous structure of the human body." At present, the rigid electrodes used to penetrate nerve tissue and try to connect with prosthesis can cause inflammation In the future, polymer networks can extend the neural network and provide a mild prosthesis interface To create this neural structure, we need to first change the behavior of the carrier protein of the driving protein motor and build a biological machine in the cell, the daily science network and the physicist's organization network reported recently These tiny protein motors carry material from one part of the cell to another, traveling along protein microtubules Then, the protein microtubules with the length in micrometers are inserted into the larger polymer microspheres with the diameter of tens of micrometers "We made the structure we wanted," Paxton said When the driving protein motor is moving, the microtubule skeleton pre coated with viscous substance breaks the polymer nanotube from the elongated sphere The process is similar to taking a pizza out of the pan, where the cheese stretches out a thread The elongated and cross-linked nanotubes form a complex structure, like a night sky view of the city's lights The total size of the network ranges from hundreds of microns to tens of thousands of millimeters, and it is composed of tubes with a diameter of 30 nm to 50 nm "One of the goals of our work is to create an artificial, highly branched neural structure," he said In the next step, we can connect them with protein motor, and the network formed will have the ability of self-healing If a nerve branch breaks, a motor can take immediate action to create a new branch " Moreover, the inserted quantum dots have also been shown to be stable, which means that light can carry information through structures and electricity It is reported that the research work is supported by the basic energy department of the U.S Department of energy.