Abstract: A chimeric polypeptide is disclosed that comprises: i) a first portion that self-assembles into an organized, repetitive, supramolecular structure that contains at least about 9 subunits, covalently linked to ii) a second polypeptide portion that comprises a peptide having a length of about 15 to about 80 amino acid residues. The second portion peptide self-assembles to form parallel multimers. A contemplated chimeric polypeptide forms a particle that is more stable than is a particle formed from a first polypeptide that is otherwise identical in sequence, but lacks the covalently linked self-binding peptide sequence of the second polypeptide portion.