Conformationally constrained dipeptide-based hydrogel as a platform for 3D cell growth and tissue engineering applications

Conventional two-dimensional culture has greatly assisted tissue engineering research but the absence of tissue-like architectures and availability unidirectional cell growth limited its use in biomedical applications. Hydrogels, particularly peptide-based, due to their solid-like porous structures, high water content, biocompatibility offer three-dimensional microenvironments for help mimic vivo? conditions vitro?. Here, we described spontaneous self-assembly a conformationally constrained dipeptide, Leucine-?,?-dehydrophenylalanine (Leu-?Phe), into strong hydrogel. Leu-?Phe hydrogel showed mechanical strength mega-pascal with self-healing properties. The supported three different mammalian cells including HEK293T, HeLa, HepG2 matrix. Results viability, confocal microscopy protein expression HEK293T cultured have indicated that were healthy functional. In addition, was stable against proteases which makes it good candidate