This course, Structural materials in cells, looks at the structure of cells and how proteins are used by both animals and plants to create a framework for cellular growth. You will also learn how a material as fine as spider silk can exceed the strength of steel.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Describe and give examples of how self-assembly enables construction ‘from the bottom up’ in natural materials
• Explain what is meant by primary and higher-order structure in proteins and give examples
• Give examples of the range of functions carried out by proteins within cells
• Describe how a combination of strong and weak bonding within biopolymers and lipids is used to build hierarchical structures with common structural elements and finely tuned properties, including calculations where appropriate
• Explain how both positive and negative design principles must be applied to the design of molecular devices and comment on the challenges involved in attempting such design.