Catalina von Bilderling

• PhD
• Researcher at CONICET National Scientific and Technical Research Council

During the late stages of the HIV-1 replication cycle, the viral polyprotein Pr55Gag is recruited to the plasma membrane (PM), where it binds phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2) and directs HIV-1 assembly. We show that Rab27a controls the trafficking of late endosomes carrying phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase type 2 α (PI4KIIα) toward th...

The development of soft bioelectronic interfaces with accurate compositional and topological control of the supramolecular architecture attracts intense interest in the fast-growing field of bioelectronics and biosensing. The present study explores the recognition-driven layer-by-layer assembly of glycoenzymes onto electrode surfaces. The design of...

We present measurements of the optical second-harmonic generation in self assembled multilayer films of PAZO/PAH polymers with the aim to investigate molecular order in the layer-by-layer architecture. The experiments are performed in transmission, using a femtosecond Ti:Sa pulsed laser, which allows a more accurate determination of the amplitude o...

We hereby present a novel “grafting-to”-like approach for the covalent attachment of plasmonic nanoparticles (PNPs) onto whispering gallery mode (WGM) silica microresonators. Mechanically stable optoplasmonic microresonators were employed for sensing single-particle and single-molecule interactions in real time, allowing for the differentiation bet...

The construction of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) using poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):tosylate and polyallylamine hydrochloride composites as conducting channel material is presented. The regulation of the polyelectrolyte‐to‐conducting polymer proportion allows one to easily tune both electronic and ionic characteristics of the tra...

Cells exert traction forces on the extracellular matrix to which they are adhered through the formation of focal adhesions. Spatial-temporal regulation of traction forces is crucial in cell adhesion, migration, cellular division, and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. By cultivating cells on polyacrylamide hydrogels of different stiffness we w...

Replacing packaging plastics with biodegradable active materials is an emerging concern. In this context, thermoplastic starch (TPS) films and nanocomposites containing different concentrations of silver nanoparticles synthetized with starch and yerba mate (TPS-AgNP1: 0.006 wt.% and TPS-AgNP2: 0.015 wt.%) were developed by extrusion and compression...

Tunable hardness materials have shown fascinating properties, which place them as potential materials for use in different technological fields. This work deals with the bulk and confined synthesis of copolymers based on butyl methacrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA), prepared by atom transfer radical copolymerization in the entire compositio...

This work reports on a novel and versatile approach to control the structure of metal–organic framework (MOFs) films by using polymeric brushes as 3D primers, suitable for triggering heterogeneous MOF nucleation. As a proof‐of‐concept, this work explores the use of poly(1‐vinylimidazole) brushes primer obtained via surface‐initiated atom transfer r...

ZIF‐8 (based on Zn and 2‐methylimidazole) MOF film growth can be controlled by using SI‐ATRP‐synthesized polymeric brushes as 3D primers. This strategy relies on the inclusion of chemical moieties in the brush, which are compatible with MOF chemical structure. According to such criteria, Poly(1‐vinylimidazole) brushes with increasingly higher graft...

Carbon nanomaterials are usually employed for improving the electrical and electrochemical properties of conducting polymer electrodes. However, low-cost of production, scalable simple procedures and adequate integration of the components at the molecular level within the composites become a challenge when dealing with real life applications. In th...

Layer by layer assembly of polyelectrolytes with proteins is a convenient tool for the development of functional biomaterials. Most of the works presented in the literature are based on the electrostatic interaction between components of opposite charges limiting the assembly possibilities. However, this process can be tuned by modifying the enviro...

The use of soft materials as building blocks in layer‐by‐layer (LbL) assemblies represent a very appealing and useful approach to enhance the loading capacity of thin films. Here, the capacity of positively charged polyamine‐salt aggregates (PSAs) based on ionically crosslinked poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) with phosphate anions (Pi) is expl...

The tunable swelling and mechanical properties of nanostructures polymers are crucial parameters for the creation of adaptive devices to be used in diverse fields, such as drug delivery, nanomedicine, and tissue engineering. We present the use of anodic aluminum oxide templates as a nanoreactor to copolymerize butyl methacrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl...

Supramolecular self-assembly of molecular building blocks represents a powerful "nanoarchitectonic" tool to create new functional materials with molecular-level feature control. Here, we propose a simple method to create tunable phosphate/polyamine-based films on surfaces by successive assembly of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH)/phosphate anio...

Mechanical stimuli play a key role in many cell functions such as proliferation, differentiation and migration. In the mammary gland, mechanical signals such as the distension of mammary epithelial cells due to udder filling are proposed to be directly involved during lactation and involution. However, the evolution of focal adhesions -specialized...

The modulation of cell adhesion via biologically inspired materials plays a key role in the development of realistic platforms to envisage not only mechanistic descriptions of many physiological and pathological processes but also new biointerfacial designs compatible with the requirements of biomedical devices. In this work, we show that the cell...

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Responsive interfacial architectures of practical interest commonly require the combination of conflicting properties in terms of their demand upon material structure. Switchable stiffness, wettability and permeability, key features for tissue engineering applications, are in fact known to be exclusively interdependent. Here we present a nanoarchit...

Supramolecular self-assembly is of paramount importance for the development of novel functional materials with molecular-level feature control. In particular, the interest in creating well-defined stratified multilayers through simple methods using readily available building blocks is motivated by a multitude of research activities in the field of...

Axonal degeneration occurs in the developing nervous system for the appropriate establishment of mature circuits, and is also a hallmark of diverse neurodegenerative diseases. Despite recent interest in the field, little is known about the changes (and possible role) of the cytoskeleton during axonal degeneration. We studied the actin cytoskeleton...

We present the covalent modification of a Pani-like conducting polymer (polyaminobenzylamine, PABA) by grafting of a polyelectrolyte brush (poly [2-(methacryloyloxy)-ethyl-trimethylammonium chloride], PMETAC). As PABA has extra pendant amino moieties, the grafting procedure does not affect the backbone nitrogen atoms that are implicated in the elec...

The possibility of combining more than one stimulus-responsive property into a single material holds interesting potential for the creation of adaptive devices to be used in diverse fields such as drug delivery, nanomedicine and tissue engineering. This paper describes a novel material based on thermo-responsive PNIPAm nanopillars with amplified su...

The surface properties of soft nanostructured hydrogels are crucial in the design of responsive materials that can be used as platforms to create adaptive devices. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of thermo-responsive hydrogels such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) can be modified by introducing a hydrophilic monomer to create...

The adhesion of cells to the extracellular matrix is a hierarchical, force-dependent, multistage process that evolves at several temporal scales. An understanding of this complex process requires a precise measurement of forces and its correlation with protein responses in living cells. We present a method to quantitatively assess live cell respons...

Optical printing has been proved a versatile and simple method to fabricate arbitrary arrays of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) on substrates. Here we show that is also a powerful tool for studying chemical reactions at the single NP level. We demonstrate that 60 nm gold NPs immobilized by optical printing can be used as seeds to obtain larger NPs by...

Chromatin modifications are critical for the establishment and maintenance of differentiation programs. G9a, the enzyme responsible for histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation in mammalian euchromatin, exists as two isoforms with differential inclusion of exon 10 (E10) through alternative splicing. We find that the G9a methyltransferase is required for d...

Second harmonic generation and two-photon photoluminescence in CdS quantum dots near metallic nanoparticles are theoretically and experimentally investigated. A control laser field is applied to the hybrid system, which couples with the surface plasmons of the metal nanoparticles. The polarized metal nanoparticles then interact with the quantum dot...

Development and application of a combined atomic force microscope (AFM) with an optical multipurpose microscope was validated and tested on several biological systems. We recorded images and measured interaction forces at the single molecule level.

We report the enhancement of the optical second harmonic signal in non-centrosymmetric semiconductor CdS quantum dots, when they are placed in close contact with isolated silver nanoparticles. The intensity enhancement is about 1000. We also show that the enhancement increases when the incoming laser frequency $omega$ is tuned toward the spectral p...