Smart Elastin-like Polymers

Abstract

Elastin-like polymers are a new family of proteinaceous polymers. In these polymers converge a wide set of interesting properties that difficultly can be found together in other polymers. They are extremely biocompatible and show an acute smart and self-assembling behaviour. The increasing in complexity of the molecular design renders polymers showing combination of functionalities and complex performance. This is specially true nowadays where, taking into account their peptide nature, these polymers can be produced as recombinant proteins in genetically modified (micro)organisms. The absolute control and absence of randomness in the primary structure makes possible the realization of multifunctional polymers that can combine physical, chemical and biological functions in a desired fashion. It can be said that the molecular design is mainly limited by imagination and not by technique. This chapter is intended to show the molecular parameters that explain the smart behaviour finally observed and how the increase in complexity of the molecular designs leads to a richer behaviour of the polymer, as a way to show the enormous potential of this family in the development of advanced materials and systems for biomedicine and nanotechnology for the next decades.