Self-Assembling Peptides: From Molecules to Nanobiomaterials

Abstract | Molecular self-assembly plays a vital role in the construction of various nanostructures\ud using the ‘bottom-up’ approach. Peptides have been considered important bio-molecular\ud building blocks for different nanoscale structures as they are biocompatible, biodegradable,\ud generally non-toxic and can be attuned to environmental responses like pH, temperature, salt\ud concentration and others. Peptide based nanostructures can offer various wonderful biological\ud applications in tissue engineering, cell culture, regenerative medicine and drug delivery. In this\ud review, the construction of short peptide-based different nanostructures including nanotubes,\ud nanovesicles and nanofibers, short peptide-based nanoporous materials, short peptide-based\ud nanofibrous hydrogels and nanovesicles for various biological applications has been discussed.\ud Moreover, morphological transformations from one nanoscopic structure to an other type of\ud nanostructure (e.g., nanotubes to nanovesicles) are also clearly discussed in this review