Aerogels are ultralight porous materials whose matrix structure can be formed by interlinking 880 nm long M13 phage particles. In theory, changing the properties would alter aerogel matrix, but attempting this using current production system leads to heterogeneous lengths. A phagemid that yields a narrow length distribution tuned in 0.3 increments from 50 2500 is designed and, independently, pe...

BACKGROUND We propose, model, and implement a novel system of population-level intervention against a virus. One context is a treatment against a chronic infection such as HIV. The underlying principle is a form of virus 'wars' in which a benign, transmissible agent is engineered to protect against infection by and spread of a lethal virus. In our specific case, the protective agent consists of...

The development of commercially available transfection reagents for gene transfer applications has revolutionized the field of molecular biology and scientific research. However, the challenge remains in ensuring that they are efficient, safe, reproducible and cost effective. Bacteriophage (phage)-based viral vectors have the potential to be utilized for general gene transfer applications withi...

Combinatorial peptide display on phage M13 protein pIII was used to discover peptide sequences that selectively bind to ErmC' methyltransferase from Bacillus subtilis. One peptide, Ac-LSGVIAT-NH(2), inhibited methylation in vitro with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 20 microM. Interestingly, the set of six peptides which inhibited ErmC' stimulated ErmSF, a homologous methyltransferase from St...

At least two conformations of M13 single-stranded DNA have been demonstrated by measuring differences in sedimentation coefficient and by direct visualization in the electron microscope. Which form is obtained from infected cells and/or intact phage depends on the pH, ionic strength, and temperature. The slower-sedimenting form can be converted to the faster-sedimenting, single-stranded form by...