Programming supramolecular peptide materials by modulating the intermediate steps in the complex assembly pathway: implications for biomedical applications

Self-assembling peptides form a prominent class of supramolecular materials with in general good biocompatibility. To afford better control over the material properties, tremendous progress has been made in studying the supramolecular organization of the peptide assemblies. This knowledge has helped us to understand the correlation between the molecular structure of the peptide building blocks and the properties of the supramolecular products. However, peptide self-assembly consists of a complex pathway rather than a spontaneous thermodynamic process. This implies that the outcome of the self-assembly is critically governed by the assembly pathway. Here, we are going to discuss how peptide self-assembly can be modulated at the intermediate steps in the self-assembly pathway. The focus will be to demonstrate this engineering approach on the example of zero-dimensional/one-dimensional nanostructure selectivity over the β-sheet assembly pathway. In addition, we provide examples of biomedical applications of such steered peptide assemblies in the field of drug delivery and tissue engineering