Gretchen Baneyx

TL;DR: In this paper, computational protein design can generate small, thermally and conformationally stable protein scaffolds that accurately mimic the viral epitope structure and induce potent neutralizing antibodies.

TL;DR: The results suggest that cell-generated force is required to maintain Fn in partially unfolded conformations, and support a model of Fn fibril elasticity based on unraveling and refolding of FnIII modules.

TL;DR: Induced expression of SPARC in SPARC-null fibroblasts restores fibronectin-induced integrin-linked kinase activation, downstream signaling, and fibronsectin unfolding, and a novel mechanism by which SPARC regulates extracellular matrix assembly is identified.

TL;DR: FRET provides an approach to gain insight into the integrin-mediated pathway of Fn fibrillogenesis and is demonstrated to imaging coexisting conformations of fibronectin in cell culture.

TL;DR: A model whereby excessive tension generated by cells in contact to biomaterials may in fact render fibronectin fibrils nonangiogenic and potentially inhibit vascularization is proposed, which could explain why current biommaterials independent of their surface chemistries and textures fail to vascularize.