{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]],"date-time":"2026-03-14T06:05:22Z","timestamp":1773468322868,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]],"date-time":"2026-03-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773273600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigaci\u00f3n y Transferencia, for the Nanoscopy-UGR Singular Laboratory"},{"name":"Conserjer\u00eda de Universidad, Investigaci\u00f3n e Innovaci\u00f3n\u2013Junta de Andaluc\u00eda","award":["FQM-247"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FQM-247"]}]},{"name":"Severo Ochoa Program","award":["CEX2023-001286-S"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CEX2023-001286-S"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010067","name":"Aragon Government","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["T57_23R"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["T57_23R"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010067","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Gels"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Biocompatible nanocomposite hydrogels are emerging as versatile platforms in nanomedicine, particularly when natural proteins are used as both structural and chemical components. In this work, we report a green, simple, and rapid in situ synthesis of ultrasmall silver nanoparticles (uAgNPs) within a bovine serum albumin (BSA) hydrogel, in which albumin simultaneously acts as the reducing agent and three-dimensional scaffold. The confined reaction environment generated uniformly dispersed Ag nanostructures with diameters in the 4\u201340 nm range, as confirmed by DLS and TEM. High-resolution TEM revealed clear Face-Centered Cubic (FCC, 111) lattice fringes, demonstrating the crystalline nature of the embedded uAgNPs. Quantitative image analysis showed narrow size distributions and high circularities, consistent with cluster stabilization through protein\u2013metal interactions. Rheological measurements further indicated that the incorporation of uAgNPs enhanced hydrogel stiffness and delayed yielding, reflecting a reinforcement effect mediated by the nanoparticles acting as additional cross-linking points. Moreover, when very small embedded uAgNPs are formed, the presence of emissive silver nanoclusters was found using fluorescence emission spectroscopy. Overall, our results show that BSA hydrogels provide an effective matrix for directing green uAgNP nucleation, ensuring high stability, controlled growth in less than 2 min, and improved mechanical properties. The resulting protein\u2013nanoparticle composite constitutes a promising soft material for imaging, sensing, and other biomedical applications requiring stable, biocompatible nanoscale architectures.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/gels12030231","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]],"date-time":"2026-03-12T09:23:03Z","timestamp":1773307383000},"page":"231","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Protein-Directed Nucleation and Stabilization of Ultrasmall Silver Nanoparticles Within BSA Hydrogels"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5573-0631","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carmen","family":"Salto-Giron","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanoscopy-UGR Laboratory, Departamento de Fisicoqu\u00edmica, Unidad de Excelencia de Qu\u00edmica Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente, Facultad de Farmacia, University of Granada, C. U. Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"M. Carmen","family":"Gonzalez-Garcia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanoscopy-UGR Laboratory, Departamento de Fisicoqu\u00edmica, Unidad de Excelencia de Qu\u00edmica Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente, Facultad de Farmacia, University of Granada, C. U. Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4673-5224","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mari C.","family":"Ma\u00f1as-Torres","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Qu\u00edmica Org\u00e1nica, Facultad de Ciencias, University of Granada, C. U. Fuentenueva, Avda. Severo Ochoa s\/n, 18071 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Basque Center for Macromolecular Design and Engineering (POLYMAT), Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Basque Country UPV\/EHU, Paseo Manuel Lardizabal 3, 20018 Donostia-San Sebasti\u00e1n, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9068-7795","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Modesto T.","family":"Lopez-Lopez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Unit \u201cModeling Nature\u201d (MNat), Departamento de F\u00edsica Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias, University of Granada, C. U. Fuentenueva, 18071 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria Ibs.GRANADA, Avda. de Madrid 15, 18014 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8910-4241","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luis","family":"Alvarez de Cienfuegos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Qu\u00edmica Org\u00e1nica, Facultad de Ciencias, University of Granada, C. U. Fuentenueva, Avda. Severo Ochoa s\/n, 18071 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria Ibs.GRANADA, Avda. de Madrid 15, 18014 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4546-4111","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jose L.","family":"Hueso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragon (INMA), CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Campus Rio Ebro, Edificio I+D, C\/Poeta Mariano Esquillor, s\/n, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Zaragoza, C\/Mar\u00eda de Luna, 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain"},{"name":"Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), 28029 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Sanitaria (IIS) de Arag\u00f3n, Avenida San Juan Bosco, 13, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain"},{"name":"Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Superior, University of Zaragoza, Crta. de Cuarte s\/n, 22071 Huesca, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1905-4183","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Angel","family":"Orte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanoscopy-UGR Laboratory, Departamento de Fisicoqu\u00edmica, Unidad de Excelencia de Qu\u00edmica Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente, Facultad de Farmacia, University of Granada, C. U. Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2920-2960","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emilio","family":"Garcia-Fernandez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanoscopy-UGR Laboratory, Departamento de Fisicoqu\u00edmica, Unidad de Excelencia de Qu\u00edmica Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente, Facultad de Farmacia, University of Granada, C. U. Cartuja, 18071 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Teixeira, S., Ferreira, D., Rodrigues, L.R., Carvalho, M.A., and Castanheira, E.M.S. (2025). Albumin\/Hyaluronic Acid Gel Nanoparticles Loaded with a Pyrimidine-Based Drug for Potent Anticancer Activity. 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