# Finding the right niche:quantifying protein folding stability in materials

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 2020 · $223,424

## Abstract

This program advances an innovative approach that directly quantifies the impact of material properties
on protein folding stability in situ at sub-micron spatial resolution and at millisecond time resolution. A
major challenge in engineering hybrid biomaterials with protein components is that many materials
contribute to substantial losses of protein activity, with significant commercial, scientific, and clinical
ramifications. A major roadblock to solving this problem is the inability to quantify in situ the material
properties that preserve or shut down protein function. This program will develop a dynamic fluorescence
imaging approach, Fast Relaxation Imaging (FReI) that promises to overcome this roadblock and open
the door to novel investigations of protein-material interactions, at the protein level. This program builds
on our recent demonstration that FReI measurements are able to quantify protein folding stability in
polyacrylamide hydrogels. We now seek to extend this approach to studies of biomedically relevant
proteins and materials. Specific Aim 1 will test the capacity to identify physical chemical mechanisms by
which materials perturb protein stability and function, by using two-dimensional substrates of controlled
surface chemistry. Specific Aim 2 will extend studies to encapsulated proteins in three-dimensional
alginate hydrogels, which are extensively used for drug delivery and tissue engineering. Outcomes from
this program and anticipated subsequent research will lay the foundation for generating new molecular
level design rules for robust, functional biomaterials with bio-macromolecular components.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9883022
- **Project number:** 5R21GM131425-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **Principal Investigator:** Deborah E Leckband
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $223,424
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-03-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9883022

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9883022, Finding the right niche:quantifying protein folding stability in materials (5R21GM131425-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9883022. Licensed CC0.

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