Materials World Network: Dynamic Materials with Triggerable Adhesion Motifs

该材料世界网络奖由生物材料计划和格鲁吉亚理工学院材料研究部特别计划办公室颁发，支持格鲁吉亚理工学院（美国）和马克斯-普朗克聚合物研究所（德国）之间的研究和教育国际合作。本项目的目的是设计可光致降解材料，通过使用UV不稳定的笼状生物粘附配体动态呈现和/或释放生物粘附基序，预期其可在体外和体内提供对细胞-材料相互作用的精确控制。 该项目是开发两种生物材料平台（表面，水凝胶）与可降解的粘合剂甘氨酸-天冬氨酸（RGD）三肽配体，以研究时空粘附在细胞过程中的影响。 拟议工作的一个主要和独特的优势是正在进行的国际合作，将光笼化学和生物材料工程相结合。 总体目标将通过完成以下具体目标来实现：a）合成呈递笼状RGD肽的表面，所述笼状RGD肽通过暴露于UV光而被激活或失活以时空调节细胞粘附; B）分析时间配体呈递对生物粘附表面上的细胞增殖和分化的作用; c）工程化呈现笼状RGD肽的水凝胶，其表现出体内细胞粘附的时空控制。 这些光致变色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。 拟议的研究将产生一个通用的生物材料战略，精确的时空控制的生物功能。 这些创新的生物材料将被用于在体外和体内提供细胞-生物材料相互作用的新见解。 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，拟议的研究将是高度变革性的。 最后，该项目还将通过促进重要的互动和扩大研究活动来加强正在进行的合作。 该研究将导致本科生和研究生研究人员的高级培训，包括来自格鲁吉亚理工学院的代表性不足的少数民族学生，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.