Pre-coated silica beads were prepared as described above, washed with water and cryogenically snap-frozen by dipping in liquid nitrogen and lyophilized at -30˚C to preserve the secondary structure of the fibrils (LABCONCO-Triad, Labotal, Israel). The samples were imaged at an acceleration voltage of 2.00 kV in Gemini 300 field emission scanning electron microscope (ZEISS, Jena, Germany) equipped with the Everhart-Thornley Secondary Electron detector. were obtained using a Jasco J-715 spectropolarimeter (Tokyo, Japan) within the range of 185-260 nm. Samples were prepared in a diluted Hepes buffer (5 mM) to minimize buffer-dependent noise.