A silk purse from a sow's ear - bioinspired materials based on α-helical coiled coils

The micrograph shows GFAP intermediate (10nm) sized filaments negatively stained with uranyl acetate and imaged using a transmission electron microscope. The areas of current and future application for coiled coil assemblies, either as filaments, or as cages, or as synthetic nanocomposite (eg with graphene) are either described or illustrated.