15th Nordic Workshop on Statistical Physics: Biological, Complex and Non-Equilibrium Systems

Computational modelling and phase diagrams in understanding biomacromolecular materials

27 Feb 2026, 11:30

45m

Albano 3: 4205 - SU Conference Room (40 seats) (Albano Building 3)

Speaker

Maria Sammalkorpi (Aalto University)

Description

Biologically in yeast and bacterial cultures synthesized proteins offer a scalable, environmentally sustainable means to self-assembling biomacromolecular materials
with, e.g. adaptive mechanical properties, adhesive characteristics, and biointeractions as advanced functionalities. We have used computational particle simulations and thermodynamics based phase diagram considerations to study both equilibrium and non-equilibrium mechanism for the molecular assembly structure. We extract dependencies on the block composition and, e.g. protein length and domains on the assembly response, allowing deducing resulting materials dependencies on the composition and conditions [1-4].  I discuss in this talk our modelling findings in respect to designing self-organization of block protein systems and achieving tunable materials properties.

[1] D. Tolmachev, I. Tunn, A. L. Harmat, N. B. Möttönen, A. Scacchi, M. B. Linder, M. Sammalkorpi, “Temperature and time induced assembly phase changes of engineered
spidroin protein solutions” International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 329, 147712 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.147712
[2] D. Fedorov, F.-E. Sammalisto, A. L. Harmat*, M. Ahlberg, S. Koskela, M. P. Haataja, A. Scacchi, M. Sammalkorpi, M. B. Linder, “Metastable liquid–liquid phase separation and aging lead to strong processing path dependence in mini‐spidroin solutions”, Advanced Functional Materials 2410421 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202410421
[3] D. Tolmachev, M. Malkamäki, M. B. Linder, M. Sammalkorpi, “Spidroins under the Influence of Alcohol: Effect of Ethanol on Secondary Structure
and Molecular Level Solvation of Silk-Like Proteins”, Biomacromolecules 24 (12),
5638-5653 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.3c00637
[4] D. Fedorov, N. Roas‐Escalona,D. Tolmachev, A. L. Harmat, A. Scacchi, M. Sammalkorpi, A. S. Aranko, M. B. Linder, “Triblock Proteins with Weakly Dimerizing Terminal Blocks and an Intrinsically Disordered Region for Rational Design of Condensate Properties”, Small 2306817 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202306817