Nanostructuring of noble metal (such as Au, or Ag) surfaces with biomorphic templates facilitates variety of applications of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). On the other hand, there is a growing interest in possible applications of amyloid fibrils – linear, beta-sheet-rich aggregates of misfolded protein molecules, studied so-far mostly in the context of degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Here we show that the newly reported insulin amyloid superstructures [1] may be employed as stable nanoscaffolds for metallic Au films providing an effective substrate for surface enhanced Raman scattering on covalently bound aromatic molecules [2]. The self-assembled superstructures of insulin fibrils are capable of templating nanopatterns in sputtered Au layers without overlapping the SERS spectra of the Raman scatterer with vibrational bands stemming from the protein.

[1] Loksztejn A, Dzwolak W, J. Mol. Biol. 395 (2010) 643–655.

[2] Wojcik S, Babenko V, Dzwolak W, Langmuir 26 (2010) 18303–18307.

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