Abstract
Nanoparticles (NPs) are powerful tools in the nanomedicine field for the diagnosis/treatment of diseases and the specific delivery of therapeutic agents (drugs and genes). Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have gained more attention due to their unique properties, such as low toxicity and a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity. Biopolymers, in particular proteins, have attracted a considerable amount of interest in recent years owing to their properties such as; abundance, low cost, sustainability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low immunogenicity. These materials are wieldy used for NPs functionalization. Thus, the combination of AgNPs with proteins resulting in multifunctional biomaterials with desirable properties for biomedical applications such as antimicrobial activity, wound healing, tissue engineering and drug delivery, etc. This chapter reviewed the recent literature on biomaterials based on AgNPs and proteins, either animal-derived (collagen and keratin) or plant-derived (soy protein). The potential applications of polymer protein-based materials in the nanomedicine field will be discussed as well.