Self assembly of magnetoferritin NPs

Hierarchical Self-Assembly and Optical Disassembly for Controlled Switching of Magnetoferritin Nanoparticle Magnetism.
Mauri A. Kostiainen,Pierpaolo Ceci,Manuela Fornara, Panu Hiekkataipale, Oksana Kasyutich, Roeland J. M. Nolte, Jeroen J. L. M. Cornelissen, Ryan D. Desautels, and Johan van Lierop
ACS Nano 5, 6394 (2011)

Protein cages such as ferritin and viral capsids are interesting building blocks for nanotechnology due to their monodisperse structure and ability to encapsulate various functional moieties. Here we show that recombinant ferritin protein cages encapsulating Fe₃O₄–γ-Fe₂O₃ iron oxide (magnetoferritin) nanoparticles and photodegradable Newkome-type dendrons self-assemble into micrometer-sized complexes with a face-centered-cubic (fcc) superstructure and a lattice constant of 13.1 nm.