Enzyme Responsive Materials for Biology and Medicine

本研究旨在为合理设计酶反应材料（ERMs）的生物医学应用开辟新的途径。这些材料可以改变性质，例如，它们可以膨胀/坍塌，或者在生化反应中从溶液变成凝胶。这些材料可应用于针对疾病特异性酶的药物控释。它们也可用于触发细胞生长的基质组装，并在组织工程中应用。该项目的结果将是(i)开发和充分表征新的相互作用生物材料，（ii）增加对分子水凝胶结构/功能关系的基本理解，（iii）在3D细胞培养的酶触发支架组装中的概念应用证明，以及（iv）酶触发药物输送。

This proposal is to develop new routes to rationally designed Enzyme Responsive Materials (ERMs) for biomedical applications. These materials can change properties, for example they can swell/collapse or change from a solution to a gel in response to biochemical reactions. These materials may have applications in the controlled release of drugs in response to disease specific enzymes. They may also be used in triggered assembly of matrixes for cell growth, with applications in tissue engineering. The outcomes of this project will be (i) the development and full characterisation of new interactive biomaterials, (ii) increased fundamental understanding of structure/function relationships in molecular hydrogels, (iii) proof of concept applications in enzyme triggered assembly of scaffolds for 3D cell culture and (iv) enzyme triggered drug delivery.