Smart biomaterials from protein-based composite nanofibres:Cell interaction with 3D-nanofibrous biopolymer scaffolds – a focus on mechanics

天然蛋白质复合材料的多层次层次结构说明了它们必须在活的有机体中履行的多种高度专业化的功能。由于合成的蛋白质基复合材料与包围所有活细胞的天然细胞外基质非常相似，因此它们具有内在的生物相容性并提供良好的细胞反应可控性。这些特性可用于开发下一代高性能合成生物材料，例如组织工程或药物输送应用。该项目的目标是设计一类新的多功能生物材料，由蛋白质基复合纳米纤维制成。采用简单的一步挤出纳米孔膜的方法，在生理条件下制备不同层次的纳米纤维蛋白复合材料。这种有效的方法将使我们能够在纳米纤维中创造出具有不同有机、无机和合成成分的新型蛋白质复合材料，它可以比现有的生物材料更接近地模仿自然细胞环境的特性。在实现这一目标的过程中，我们将探索如何在纳米尺度上调整这种新型蛋白质复合材料的组成和尺寸。我们还将研究如何在微观水平上控制分层纤维组装和由此产生的复合功能。因此，一个重要的方面将是各种复合材料的生物功能，这将在分子和细胞水平上进行检查。此外，我们将探索如何扩大挤压过程，以促进宏观生物材料的制备，用于组织工程支架或药物载体。该项目的研究结果将有助于开发具有精确控制的多功能、生物活性和刺激反应的新型智能生物材料。

The multi-level hierarchical structure of natural protein composites accounts for the manifold highly specialised functions they have to fulfil within a living organism. As synthetic protein-based composites strongly resemble the natural extracellular matrix, which surrounds all living cells, they are intrinsically biocompatible and offer well-controllable cell reactions. These features can be exploited in the development of the next generation of high performance synthetic biomaterials, for instance in tissue engineering or drug delivery applications.The objective of the proposed project is to design a new class of multifunctional biomaterials from protein-based composite nanofibres. Using a simple, one-step extrusion approach with nanoporous membranes, we will prepare nanofibrous protein composites under physiological conditions with different hierarchical levels. This efficient method will allow us to create novel types of protein composites with different organic, inorganic and synthetic components in the nanofibres, which can mimic the properties of the natural cellular environment more closely than existing biomaterials. On the way towards this aim we will explore how we can adjust the composition and dimension of such novel protein composites on the nanoscale. We will also study how the hierarchical fibre assembly and the resulting composite functions can be controlled on a microscopic level. Hereby, an important aspect will be the biological functionality of the various composites, which will be examined on a molecular and cellular level. Furthermore, we will explore how the extrusion process can be expanded to facilitate the preparation of macroscopic biomaterials for use as tissue engineering scaffolds or drug carriers.The results of this project will help to develop novel smart biomaterials from protein composite nanofibres with precisely controllable multifunctionality, biological activity and stimuli responsiveness.