Materials World Network: Dynamic Materials with Triggerable Adhesion Motifs

这项由美国佐治亚理工学院生物材料计划和材料研究部特别计划办公室颁发的材料世界网络奖，支持美国佐治亚理工学院和德国Max-Planck Institute Fur Polymerforschung在研究和教育方面的国际合作。该项目的目标是设计光触发材料，通过使用不稳定于紫外线的笼状生物黏附配体来动态呈现和/或释放生物黏附基序，有望在体外和体内提供对细胞-材料相互作用的精确控制。该项目旨在开发两种生物材料平台(表面、水凝胶)，其中包括可触发的精氨酸-甘氨酸-天冬氨酸(RGD)三肽配体，以研究细胞过程中时空黏附的影响。拟议工作的一个主要和独特的优势是正在进行的整合光笼化学和生物材料工程的国际合作。总的目标将通过完成以下具体目标来实现：a)合成呈现笼中RGD多肽的表面，这些RGD多肽通过紫外线照射激活或失活以时空调节细胞黏附；b)分析时间配体呈递在生物黏附表面上对细胞增殖和分化的作用；c)工程水凝胶展示展示在体内细胞黏附的时空调控的笼状RGD多肽。这些光触发材料有望在细胞功能的基础科学研究以及用于组织修复和再生的动态、可调植入物中得到广泛应用。这项拟议的研究将产生一个通用的生物材料战略，用于对生物功能进行精确的时空控制。然后，这些创新的生物材料将被用来提供关于细胞-生物材料在体外和体内相互作用的新见解。此外，对工程可触发水凝胶的关注为转化为许多生物技术和生物医学应用提供了一条途径。由于这些优势，拟议中的研究将具有极大的变革性。最后，该项目还将通过促进重大互动和扩大研究活动来加强正在进行的合作。这项研究将导致对本科生和研究生研究人员的高级培训，包括来自佐治亚理工学院的一名未被充分代表的少数民族学生，他们具有基于多学科、综合视角的独特分析技能。

This Materials World Network award by the Biomaterials program and the Office of Special Program in the Division of Materials Research to Georgia Institute of Technology supports an international collaboration for research and education between Georgia Tech (USA) and the Max-Planck Institut fur Polymerforschung (Germany). The objective of this project is to engineer phototriggerable materials to dynamically present and/or release bioadhesive motifs via the use of UV-labile caged bioadhesive ligands, which are expected to provide precise control over cell-material interactions both in vitro and in vivo. The project is to develop two biomaterial platforms (surfaces, hydrogels) with triggerable adhesive arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) tripeptide ligands in order to investigate the effects of spatiotemporal adhesion in cell processes. A major and unique strength of the proposed work is the ongoing international collaboration integrating photocaged chemistry and biomaterials engineering. The overall objective will be accomplished by completing the following specific aims: a) synthesize surfaces presenting caged RGD peptides that are activated or inactivated via exposure to UV light to spatiotemporally modulate cell adhesion; b) analyze the role of temporal ligand presentation on cell proliferation and differentiation on bioadhesive surfaces; c) engineer hydrogels presenting caged RGD peptides that exhibit spatiotemporal control of in vivo cell adhesion. These phototriggerable materials are expected to have wide-spread applications in basic-science studies of cell function as well as dynamic, tunable implants for tissue repair and regeneration. 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. Because of these strengths, the proposed research will be highly transformative. Finally, this project will also strengthen the ongoing collaboration by enabling significant interactions and expanding research activities. The research will result in the advanced training of undergraduate and graduate researchers, including an underrepresented minority student from Georgia Tech, with unique analytical skills based on a multi-disciplinary, integrative perspective.