Smart biomaterials

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This project aims to engineer phototriggerable materials to dynamically present and/or release bioadhesive motifs via the use of UV-labile caged ligands. We hypothesize that these UV-triggerable caged bioadhesive ligands will provide precise control over cell-material interactions in vitro and in vivo. We propose to develop two biomaterial platforms (surfaces, hydrogels) with triggerable adhesive RGD ligands in order to investigate the effects of spatiotemporal adhesion in cell processes.The proposed research will generate a general biomaterial strategy for precise spatiotemporal control of biological functionalities. These innovative biomaterials will then be used to provide new insights on cell-biomaterial interactions in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the focus on engineering triggerable hydrogels provides a pathway for translation into many biotechnological and biomedical applications.