PROTOMAT – Integrating non-living and living matter via protocellular materials (PCMs) design and synthetic construction – ERC Starting Grant
Synthetic cells or protocells are engineered to mimic real life functionality. As such, they have several applications in biology and medicine. The EU-funded PROTOMAT project will undertake a controlled assembly of protocell building blocks into forms of adaptive and self-regulating protocellular materials (PCMs) that integrate with living cells and target their mechanochemical sensory pathways. The project will address the engineering of PCMs with mechanical properties that mimic those of soft living tissues and of PCMs with rudimentary adaptive and self-regulating higher-order behaviours. Moreover, it will develop PCMs capable of interacting and integrating with living cells.
Start date: 01 March 2023
End date: 28 February 2028
Role: Coordinator
Other Partners: Istituto di Ricerca Pediatrica Città della Speranza (Padua, Italy)
More info: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101039578
Research outputs
| Team members | Type of divulgation activity | Description | Audience (type&number) |
| P. Gobbo | Article in popular journal | Press release for the start of PROTOMAT Links: https://shorturl.at/hqtuO, https://shorturl.at/fBLMS, https://shorturl.at/zFHP5 | General public, >500 |
| P. Gobbo | Public event | Radio interview for the start of PROTOMAT, Link: https://shorturl.at/dtGMW | General public, >500 |
| P. Gobbo | Symposium | Bottom-up synthetic biology: from molecules to protocells and protocellular materials – Where are we at? – Oral presentation at the 3rd PhD Winter School – UniTS/UniVe | Scientific community, 100-500 |
| P. Gobbo | Private event | Bottom-up synthetic biology: from molecules to protocells and protocellular materials – Where are we at? – Oral presentation at F.I.S. (Fabbrica Italiana Sintetici, Vicenza, Italy) | Industry, <50 |
| P. Gobbo | Article in popular journal | Il software della vita – Prisma | General public, >500 |
| P. Gobbo | Article in peer reviewed journal | “Shining Light on Carbon Dots: New Opportunities in Photocatalysis”. ChemCatChem, 2023, e202300667. | Scientific community, >500 |
| S. Valente | Symposium | Exploring new dimensions: size-controlled proteinosomes for protocellular materials – Oral presentation, 2nd Symposium of the series “Bottom-up design and synthetic construction of life-like technologies”, DSCF, UniTS | Scientific community, <50 |
| P. Gobbo | Article in peer reviewed journal | “A Photo-degradable Crosslinker for the Development of Light-responsive Protocell Membranes”. Chem. Eur. J., 2023, e202302058. | Scientific community, >500 |
| S. Valente, A. Galanti, B. Rosetti, P. Gobbo | Article in peer reviewed journal | “Protocell Communication Through the Eyes of Synthetic Organic Chemists”. EurJOC, 2023 e202300529. | Scientific community, >500 |
| S. Valente | Conference | “Narrowing proteinosome size dispersion for the development of next-gen tissue-like materials”, Oral presentation, Italian Chemical Society – XLI Organic Chemistry Division national conference (Rome) | Scientific community, >500 |
| P. Gobbo | Symposium | Can higher-order functions emerge by assembling protocell units into tissue-like materials? – Oral presentation, System Chemistry in Italy Meeting (Rome) | Scientific community, 100-500 |
| A. Galanti | Public Event | Sviluppo di materiali protocellulari capaci di comportamenti biomimetici avanzati – oral presentation & outreach activity with high school students, I giovani e la Chimica in FVG-2023, Italian Chemical Society | General public, 100-500 |
| all | Workshop | Industry outreach, invited Enphos S.R.L. (Verona) and Nanophoenix (Trieste) | Industry, <50 |
The Gobbo Group 