Cole DeForest

@coledeforest

Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering, University of Washington | Husband | Father | Outdoor Enthusiast

Seattle, WA coledeforest.com Joined September 2009

1.5K Following 3.7K Followers 640 Posts

Latest posts 5

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest Feb 6, 2024

HUGE NEWS! In our new preprint, we introduce “grayscale image z-stack-guided multiphoton optical-lithography” (GIZMO) to rapidly photomodulate materials in full 3D non-binary patterns at sub-µm resolutions spanning large volumes (>mm3).

biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Paper 🧵 (1/19)

bioRxiv @biorxivpreprint Feb 3, 2024

Grayscale 4D Biomaterial Customization at High Resolution and Scale biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh… #bioRxiv
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Cole DeForest @coledeforest Jul 27

Check out our lab's new manuscript entitled "Boolean Logic-Based Control Over Recombinant Protein Biomaterial Degradability and Therapeutic Delivery", now live in Advanced Materials (@AdvPortfolio)!

🔓: doi.org/10.1002/adma.7…

Huge congrats to Murial, Ryan, and Shivani!

Recombinant protein-based biomaterials offer exciting opportunities in materials design and controlled therapeutic delivery. Though their precursors can be readily synthesized with near-perfect monodispersity and sequence specificity through scalable fermentation processes, recombinant protein materials have yet to achieve the same level of multi-stimuli-responsiveness as their synthetic counterparts. Integrating cutting-edge tools from chemical biology, we autonomously compile topologically specified protein crosslinkers that can be degraded following user-programmable Boolean logic. Covalent step polymerization of these linkers into protein hydrogels yields smart materials whose cargo (e.g., bioactive proteins, cellular therapeutics) can be liberated following bulk degradation in response to user-specified input combinations.

Cole DeForest @coledeforest Nov 26, 2025

The publishing streak continues! Excited to share our new article in Nature Reviews Materials @NatRevMater entitled "Engineering Complexity into Protein-based Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications"!

Check it out here:
📜: doi.org/10.1038/s41578…
🔓: rdcu.be/eRFDh

Protein-based biomaterials are growing in popularity for biomedical applications, in part owing to their innate ability to interface with biological systems. These materials, in the form of fibres, nanoparticles and hydrogels, have shown promise as drug delivery vehicles, tissue scaffolds and vaccines. Moreover, the explosion of protein engineering tools and the inception of de novo protein design have transformed our ability to explore new protein structures, enabling the creation of novel materials with diverse properties and furthering their customization for various applications. Here we explore the coming of age of protein engineering technologies and their impact on biomaterials. Starting with naturally sourced materials, we highlight common protein building blocks and fabrication methods, as well as recent applications of each. We subsequently explore rationally designed materials and conclude by discussing the potential impacts that de novo design will have on biomaterial dev.

Cole DeForest @coledeforest Nov 21, 2025

Check out our new paper entitled "Boolean Logic-based Controlled Release of Bioactive Proteins with Diversified Inputs", live in @angew_chem!

Growth factors, enzymes, nanobodies, cytokines, and fluorescent proteins can now be "logically" delivered!

📜: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/an…

Stimuli-responsive biomaterials hold great promise in controlled therapeutic delivery, tissue engineering, and biosensing applications. Recently, molecular assembly via autonomous compilation has been employed to create topologically specified protein cargos that can be site-specifically tethered to and conditionally released from biomaterials following user-programmable Boolean logic. Prior implementation has been confined to simple fluorescent protein outputs and model protease inputs. Here, we extend the applicability of this framework by assembling all 7 unique logical operations emanating from a YES/OR/AND 3-input operator set to deliver bioactive proteins spanning diverse categories: growth factors, enzymes, therapeutic nanobodies, de novo-engineered cytokines, and fluorescent proteins. Through inclusion of a photocleavable protein motif, we further establish that visible light can be employed as an additional input in specifying logic-based protein release.

Cole DeForest @coledeforest Oct 20, 2025

Our latest collaborative paper with David Baker's lab is now live in Cell Biomaterials (@CellBiomat, Cell Press)! Check out "Stimuli-triggered Formation of De Novo-designed Protein Biomaterials"!

🔓 : cell.com/cell-biomateri…

In this work, we employ de novo protein design methodologies to generate a suite of self-assembling multimeric proteins, whose step-growth heteropolymerization into bulk hydrogels and condensates can be exogenously triggered through small-molecule addition. Our results highlight how changes in programmed multimer valency and their triggered assembly yield materials with varying structures and viscoelasticity. We anticipate that these approaches will prove useful in rapidly generating large libraries of stimuli-responsive biomaterials that are precisely tailored to specific applications in the biosciences and beyond.