Protein-based hydrogels with distinct conformations which enable encapsulation or differentiation of cells are of great interest in 3D cancer research models. Conformational changes may cause macroscopic shifts in the hydrogels, allowing for its use as biosensors and drug carriers. In depth knowledge on how 3D conformational changes in proteins may affect cell fate and tumor formation is requir...

The spatial presentation of immobilized extracellular matrix (ECM) cues and matrix mechanical properties play an important role in directed and guided cell behavior and neovascularization. The goal of this work was to explore whether gradients of elastic modulus, immobilized matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-sensitivity, and YRGDS cell adhesion ligands are capable of directing 3D vascular sprout f...

Cell printing is becoming a common technique to fabricate cellularized printed scaffold for biomedical application. There are still significant challenges in soft tissue bioprinting using hydrogels, which requires live cells inside the hydrogels. Moreover, the resilient mechanical properties from hydrogels are also required to mechanically mimic the native soft tissues. Herein, we developed a v...

In this study, the corn straw after removing the lignin was grafted with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) to prepare sulfonated cellulose. The grafting copolymerization between the sulfonated cellulose and acrylic acid (AA) was performed using potassium persulfate and N,N1-methylenebisacrylamide as the initiator and crosslinking agent, respectively, to prepare corn straw-co-AMPS...

Acrylamide/2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate hydrogels were prepared by simultaneous radiation-induced cross-linking copolymerization of acrylamide (AAm), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and water mixtures at a radiation dose of 10 kGy. Hydrogels were characterized by infrared spectroscopy. Dynamic and equilibrium swelling of hydrogels in water and in buffer solutions were investigated. They were ...

Facile synthesis and detailed characleri7.ation of photopolymerizable and biocompatible poly(ethylene glycol) dimetbacrylates (PEGDM) and their hydrogels are described. Combined analyses of H NMR and MALDI-TOF MS confirmed the formation of prepolymers of high purity and narrow mass distribution (PD < 1.02). A systematic investigation into the struCtW'e and mechanical properties of PEGDM hydroge...

Synthetic extracellular matrices are widely used in regenerative medicine and as tools in building in vitro physiological culture models. Synthetic hydrogels display advantageous physical properties, but are challenging to modify with large peptides or proteins. Here, a facile, mild enzymatic postgrafting approach is presented. Sortase-mediated ligation was used to conjugate human epidermal gro...

Whey proteins can be used as hydrogels and nanoparticle systems for encapsulation and controlled delivery of bioactive compounds. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) hydrogels exhibited pH-sensitive swelling behavior with minimum swelling ratio near the isoelectric point (pI) of whey proteins ( 5.1). The controlled drug release behavior of WPC hydrogels was studied using caffeine as a model drug. Co...

L-3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) is an unusual amino acid found in mussel adhesive proteins (MAPs) that is believed to lend adhesive characteristics to these proteins. Most previous efforts to incorporate DOPA into hydrogels have utilized oxidative cross-linking, which is hypothesized to reduce the adhesive properties of DOPA and requires reagents that are harmful to biological tissues. In t...

Hydrogels are commonly used biomaterials for tissue engineering. With their high-water content, good biocompatibility and biodegradability they resemble the natural extracellular environment and have been widely used as scaffolds for 3D cell culture and studies of cell biology. The possible size of such hydrogel constructs with embedded cells is limited by the cellular demand for oxygen and nut...