Chakrabortty, SabyasachiSison, MiguelWu, YuzhouLadenburger, AnitaPramanik, GoutamBiskupek, JohannesExtermann, JérômeKaiser, UteLasser, TheoWeil, Tanja2017-05-302017-05-302017-05-30201710.1039/c6bm00951dhttps://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/137691WOS:000400690700006We report a bioinspired multifunctional albumin derived polypeptide coating comprising grafted poly(ethylene oxide) chains, multiple copies of the HIV TAT derived peptide enabling cellular uptake as well as mitochondria targeting triphenyl-phosphonium (TPP) groups. Exploring these polypeptide copolymers for passivating gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) yielded (i) NIR-emitting markers in confocal microscopy and (ii) photo-thermal active probes in optical coherence microscopy. We demonstrate the great potential of such multifunctional protein-derived biopolymer coatings for efficiently directing Au NP into cells and to subcellular targets to ultimately probe important cellular processes such as mitochondria dynamics and vitality inside living cells.text::journal::journal article::research article