Related papers: Ionomeric extracellular matrices for dynamic soft …
Recently there has been an increase in demand for soft and biocompatible electronic devices capable of withstanding large stretch. Ionically conductive polymers present a promising class of soft materials for these emerging applications due…
In vivo, eukaryotic cells are embedded in a matrix environment, where they grow and develop. Generally, this extracellular matrix (ECM) is an anisotropic fibrous structure, through which macromolecules and biochemical signaling molecules at…
Nonlinear stiffening is a ubiquitous property of major types of biopolymers that make up the extracellular matrices (ECM) including collagen, fibrin and basement membrane. Within the ECM, many types of cells such as fibroblasts and cancer…
Extracellular matrix (ECM) constitutes a key basement structure to human organisms by acting as a complex network of large proteins and carbohydrates that provide structural support to surrounding cells. Remodeling in the extracellular…
A new class of micromechanically motivated chain network models for soft biological tissues is presented. On the microlevel, it is based on the statistics of long chain molecules. A wormlike chain model is applied to capture the behavior of…
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a highly complex structure through which biochemical and mechanical signals are transmitted. In processes of cell migration, the ECM also acts as a scaffold, providing structural support to cells as well as…
To respond to the increasing need for bone repair strategies, various types of biomaterials have been developed. Among those, calcium phosphate ceramics (CPCs) are promising since they possess a chemical composition similar to that of…
Substrate engineering for steering cell growth is a wide and well-established area of research in the field of modern biotechnology. Here we introduce a micromachining technique to pattern an inert, transparent polymer matrix blended with a…
For many years, the idea of a human with bionic muscles immediately conjures up science fiction images of a TV series superhuman character that was implanted with bionic muscles and portrayed with strength and speed far superior to any…
Wireless bioelectronic interfaces are increasingly used to control tissue-engineered biohybrid robotic systems. However, a unifying engineering framework linking device design to system-level control remains underdeveloped. Here, we propose…
The growing interest in bio-inspired materials is driven by the need for increasingly targeted and efficient devices that also have a low ecological impact. These devices often use specially developed materials (e.g., polymers, aptamers,…
Embedding magnetic colloidal particles in an elastic polymer matrix leads to smart soft materials that can reversibly be addressed from outside by external magnetic fields. We discover a pronounced nonlinear superelastic stress-strain…
Interfacing artificial functional materials and living neuronal tissues is at the forefront of bio-nano-technology. Attempts have been so far based onto microscale processing of metals and inorganic semiconductors as electrodes or…
Soft and pliable conductive polymer composites hold promise for application as bioelectronic interfaces such as for electroencephalography (EEG). In clinical, laboratory, and real-world EEG there is a desire for dry, soft, and comfortable…
Soft electronics are a promising and revolutionary alternative for traditional electronics when safe physical interaction between machines and the human body is required. Among various materials architectures developed for producing soft…
Biological cells embedded in fibrous matrices have been observed to form inter-cellular bands of dense and aligned fibers, through which they mechanically interact over long distances. Such matrix-mediated cellular interactions have been…
Biomaterial systems have allowed for the in vitro production of complex, emergent tissue behaviors that were not possible with conventional 2D culture systems allowing for analysis of the normal development as well as disease processes. We…
Future brain-machine interfaces, prosthetics, and intelligent soft robotics will require integrating artificial neuromorphic devices with biological systems. Due to their poor biocompatibility, circuit complexity, low energy efficiency, and…
Hydrogels are soft materials engineered to suit a multitude of applications that exploit their tunable mechanochemical properties. Dynamic hydrogels employing noncovalent, physically crosslinked networks dominated by either enthalpic or…
Coulomb interactions play an essential role in atomically-thin materials. On one hand, they are strong and long-ranged in layered systems due to the lack of environmental screening. On the other hand, they can be efficiently tuned by means…