Expression and Purification of HFB1 from the Bacterial host Escherchia Coli

Hydrophobins are a unique class of proteins which grow in fungi which demonstrate unique properties, such as self-assembly into two dimensional arrays at water/air or water/solid interfaces. A specific type of hydrophobins, HFB1, will be closely examined, expressed, and purified within an e. coli host. Most hydrophobins are used within the medical field and are harvested directly from the fungi, with little research done to express the protein within a bacterial host for large scale production. Our research will revolve around developing a method to clone, express, and purify the hydrophobin, HFB1, within the bacterial host, with tweaking of the methods as problems and solutions arrive. The HFB1 developed will be used as a novel nanomaterial, with some applications being the removal of oil from water, or tissue-culture cell growth