Protein Design meets Phosphors for Light-Emitting Diodes

Description

We utilize artificial fluorescent proteins as down-converting filters for the light-emitting source of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to create Bio-LEDs. These proteins serve as hosts for small organic dyes with fluorescent properties. The proteins are intended to shield these compounds from non-radiative deactivation and aggregation, which are central challenges with such fluorescent molecules, making them less ideal for use in white LEDs.
To further stabilize the resultant proteins, they are embedded in a polymer matrix to enhance their resilience against pH fluctuations, temperature changes, and the high photon-flux encountered when the blue LED emitter is covered with this biological filter.
Our primary objective within this multidisciplinary project is to computationally identify and redesign proteins to become specific and tightly binding agents for these dyes, while maintaining high thermal stability. To achieve this aim, we have curated a library of several hundred protein scaffolds and, after docking, selected the most promising starting points. We are then redesigning these using various design strategies, such as Rosetta CoupledMoves. Additionally, some fluorescent compounds are anchored into the protein's binding pocket through covalent attachment using non-canonical amino acids or cysteine residues.
Currently, we have developed a few dozen designs for several of our envisioned dyes, which have been expressed and evaluated for their binding affinity, as well as their spectroscopic and biophysical properties. The most promising candidates thus far exhibit stabilities of up to 1000 hours when applied as a coating on an LED.

Period	2024
Event title	EMRS Fall Meeting 2024
Event type	Conference
Location	Warschau, PolandShow on map