Induction of Structure and Function in a Designed Peptide upon Adsorption on a Silica Nanoparticle

Small change: Nanoparticles can induce a functional helix from an unstructured peptide (see picture). The ability to generate stable, well-defined structures on surfaces opens up the possibility of creating nanosystems with a variety of functionalities, which is demonstrated by the introduction of a catalytic site for ester hydrolysis.