Diffusion of organic and inorganic molecules
controls most industrial and biological processes that occur in a
liquid phase. Although significant efforts have been devoted to the
design and operation of large-scale purification systems, diffusion
devices with adjustable biochemical characteristics have remained
difficult to achieve. In this regard, micrometer-scale, bioinspired
membranes with tunable diffusion properties have been engineered
by covalent cross-linking of two elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs)
at a liquid−liquid interface. The covalent approach selected
provides the desired ELR-based membranes with structural
support, and modulation of the concentration of the polypeptides
employed confers direct control of the thickness, pore size, and
diffusive properties over a broad range of molecular weights (4−150 kDa). The recombinant and versatile nature of the
proteinaceous building blocks employed further paves the way to engineering bioactive motifs within the membrane scaffold, thereby
widening their applicability in the biological field.
