Two AMOLF proposals within new Industrial Partnership Programme approved

AMOLF group leaders Mischa Bonn (Biosurface Spectroscopy group) and Gijsje Koenderink (Biological Soft Matter group) have received funding for a joint project in the field of amyloid fibrils.

Amyloid fibrils are remarkably stable, thin assemblies of misfolded proteins.
Under normal circumstances the conformation and self-assembly of proteins is determined by their specific sequence and structure. When proteins unfold or are misfolded (i.e., incorrectly folded), they can enter into an assembly route that is independent of their sequence. Then they form stable amyloid fibrils. Amyloid fibrils are associated with various diseases, such as Alzheimer and Parkinson, where these fibrils are formed in the brain and are damaging. On the other hand, amyloid fibrils can also be used to create new materials. This project is aimed at elucidating how the structure of amyloid fibrils is related to their physical properties (mechanics), and how the formation of amyloid materials can be influenced by polyphenols. This project forms part of the Industrial Partnership Programme (IPP) ‘Bio(related) Materials’ of the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) which is financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). This IPP project will also be partly financed by the Top Institute Food and Nutrition and the Dutch Polymer Institute.

Next to that, AMOLF group leader Gijsje Koenderink has received financial approval for a joint project together with Kees Storm of TU Eindhoven in the field of collagen mechanics. Collagen is the most common protein in our body and lends structure and stability to tissues such as skin, bones and cartilage. Collagen forms networks of fibres via a unique, hierarchical process: nanometre-scale building blocks are tacked together to form micrometre fibrils, which together form networks on the millimetre scale. In this project we will be investigating how this scale hierarchy can explain the mechanical properties of collagen. To this end, we will combine experiments using laser tweezers and rheology with multiscale simulations. We hope to attain a quantitative model that describes and predicts the properties of tissues, and can also develop new materials inspired by the principles of collagen design. This project is also part of the Industrial Partnership Programme (IPP) ‘Bio(related) Materials’ of the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) which is financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). This IPP project will also be partly financed by the Top Institute Food and Nutrition and the Dutch Polymer Institute.