The porosity, order, biocompatibility, and chirality of protein crystals has motivated interest from diverse research domains including materials science, biotechnology, and medicine. Porous protein crystals have the unusual potential to organize guest molecules within highly ordered scaffolds, enabling applications ranging from biotemplating and catalysis to biosensing and drug delivery. Significant research has therefore been directed toward characterizing protein crystal materials in hopes of optimizing crystallization, scaffold stability, and application efficacy. In this overview article, we describe recent progress in the field of protein crystal materials with special attention given to applications in nanomedicine and nanobiotechnology. This article is categorized under: Biology-Inspired Nanomaterials > Protein and Virus-Based Structures Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Toxicology and Regulatory Issues in Nanomedicine > Toxicology of Nanomaterials.
Keywords: crosslinked enzyme crystals; intracrystal mass transport; porous protein crystals; protein crosslinking; protein crystal engineering.
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