Dr. Kun Dai

Projects

Development of biologically adaptive and interactive peptides materials
Can we create life in the Lab? The first step is to understand the origin of life and imitate its dynamic behavior. On a molecular level, twenty natural amino acids mainly contribute to the overwhelming molecular complexity found in biological systems. Inspired by such processes, my project is to develop spontaneous peptide chemical networks capable of dynamic adaptation and active communication with biological counterparts through the construction of non-equilibrium self-assembling pathways. These unique properties can be engineered from peptide materials.

Supervisor

Dr. Charalampos Pappas

Publications in livMatS

• Spontaneous and Selective Peptide Elongation in Water Driven by Aminoacyl Phosphate Esters and Phase Changes*
  Dai, K., Pol, M. D., Saile, L., Sharma, A., Liu, B., Thomann, R., Trefs, J. L., Qiu, D., Moser, S., Wiesler, S., Balzer, B., Hugel, T., Jessen, H. J. & Pappas, C. G. (2023). Spontaneous and Selective Peptide Elongation in Water Driven by Aminoacyl Phosphate Esters and Phase Changes. <i<Journal of the American Chemical Society. doi: 10.1021/jacs.3c07918