By surface engineering globular proteins, British chemists have added a new tool to the field of nanotechnology by allowing almost pure liquid drops of proteins and other biomolecules to be produced.

These materials are a new phase for protein chemistry representing highly concentrated droplets of the biomolecules in its functionally and active structural state unencumbered by solvent molecules. The work will allow such enigmatic phenomena as protein folding to be explored as well as allowing the role of water molecules in protein systems to be investigated more closely than ever before.

• Liquid Proteins – A New Frontier for Biomolecule-Based Nanoscience,
  Adam W. Perriman and Stephen Mann,
  ACS Nano 2011.
  DOI: 10.1021/nn202290g