Related papers: Photo-active collagen systems with controlled trip…
Chemical crosslinking of collagen is a general strategy to reproduce macroscale tissue properties in physiological environment. However, simultaneous control of protein conformation, material properties and biofunctionality is highly…
Biomimetic hydrogels based on natural polymers are a promising class of biomaterial, mimicking the natural extra-cellular matrix of biological tissues and providing cues for cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation. With a view to…
Biological hydrogels have been increasingly sought after as e.g. wound dressings or scaffolds for regenerative medicine, due to their inherent biofunctionality in biological environments. Especially in moist wound healing, the ideal…
In order to establish defined biomimetic systems, type I collagen was functionalised with 1,3-Phenylenediacetic acid (Ph) as aromatic, bifunctional segment. Following investigation on molecular organization and macroscopic properties,…
Covalent functionalisation of collagen has been shown to be a promising strategy to adjust the mechanical properties of highly swollen collagen hydrogels. At the same time, secondary interactions between for example, amino acidic…
UV-cured collagen-based hydrogels hold promise in skeletal muscle regeneration due to their soft elastic properties and porous architecture. However, the complex triple helix conformation of collagen and environmental conditions, i.e.…
The fast degradation of collagen-based membranes in the biological environment remains a critical challenge, resulting in underperforming Guided Bone Regeneration (GBR) therapy leading to compromised clinical results. Photoactive…
Thiol-ene photo-click hydrogels were prepared via step-growth polymerisation using thiol-functionalised type-I collagen and 8-arm poly(ethylene glycol) norbornene terminated (PEG-NB), as a potential injectable regenerative device. Type-I…
We engineered a microfluidic platform to study the effects of bioactive glass nanoparticles (BGNs) on cell viability under static culture. We incorporated different concentrations of BGNs (1%, 2%, and 3% w/v) in collagen hydrogel (with a…
The covalent functionalisation of type I atelocollagen with either 4-vinylbenzyl or methacrylamide residues is presented as a simple synthetic strategy to achieve customisable, cell-friendly UV-cured hydrogel networks with widespread…
Photoinduced network formation is an attractive strategy for designing water-insoluble gelatin fibres as medical device building blocks and for enabling late-stage property customisation. However, mechanically-competent, long-lasting…
Currently two factors hinder the use of collagen as building block of regenerative devices: the potential antigenicity, and limited mechanical strength in aqueous environment. Polymeric collagen is naturally found in the cross-linked state…
Medical devices with matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) modulating functionality are highly desirable to restore tissue homeostasis in critical inflammation states, such as chronic wounds, rotator cuff tears and cancer. The introduction of…
One of the limitations of electrospun collagen as bone-like fibrous structure is the potential collagen triple helix denaturation in the fibre state and the corresponding inadequate wet stability even after crosslinking. Here, we have…
Polymer gels with photo-responsive cross-links enable tunable mechanics and surface morphologies, making them promising for adaptive materials. While prior work on coumarin cross-linked gels has focused on photo-mediated events in dilute…
Implantable hydrogels should ideally possess mechanical properties matched to the surrounding tissues to enable adequate mechanical function while regeneration occurs. This can be challenging, especially when degradable systems with high…
Molecular dynamics simulations have been employed to study the formation of a physical (thermoreversible) gel by amphiphilic A-B-A triblock copolymers in aqueous solution. In order to mimic the structure of hydrogel-forming polypeptides…
We study the micromechanics of collagen-I gel with the goal of bridging the gap between theory and experiment in the study of biopolymer networks. Three-dimensional images of fluorescently labeled collagen are obtained by confocal…
A facile route for the fabrication of surface-attached hydrogel thin films with well-controlled chemistry and tailored architecture on wide range of thickness from nanometers to micrometers is reported. The synthesis, which consists in…
Active materials capable of autonomously modulating their mechanical properties are foundational to the development of next-generation soft technologies. Here, we introduce a novel class of extensible biohybrid hydrogels powered by living…