Abstract: In the context of materials it is well understood that structural order across all length-scales affect and contribute to the structural and functional properties. In the context of studying such “structure-function” relations it is very rewarding to investigate examples from biology. Evolution has led to amazing solutions in structure and function that in many cases has inspired to technical, so-called “biomietic”, innovations. It is clear that in virtually all these materials the structure-function design starts at the molecular level with the exactly defined structures of biological macromolecules, such as carbohydrates or proteins. Among these proteins have a unique feature that makes them very interesting targets for structure-function studies. Namely, protein structures, i.e. polypeptide sequences, can relatively easily be modified and re-designed with atomic detail. Protein encoding gene sequences are easy to produce in an automated way and even complicated sequences are inexpensively available from commercial providers, making them widely available. With our ability to design the molecular elements of materials with atomic detail we are in a completely new way able to investigate how functional features, and seemingly order, arise and how eventually this can lead to new technological development.
