title: Self-Healing Elastin-Bioglass Hydrogels.
abstract: Tailorable hydrogels that are mechanically robust, injectable, and self-healable, are useful for many biomedical applications including tissue repair and drug delivery. Here we use biological and chemical engineering approaches to develop a novel in situ forming organic/inorganic composite hydrogel with dynamic aldimine cross-links using elastin-like polypeptides (ELP) and bioglass (BG). The resulting ELP/BG biocomposites exhibit tunable gelling behavior and mechanical characteristics in a composition and concentration dependent manner. We also demonstrate self-healing in the ELP/BG hydrogels by successfully reattaching severed pieces as well as through rheology. In addition, we show the strength of genetic engineering to easily customize ELP by fusing cell-stimulating "RGD" peptide motifs. We showed that the resulting composite materials are cytocompatible as they support the cellular growth and attachment. Our robust in situ forming ELP/BG composite hydrogels will be useful as injectable scaffolds for delivering cell and drug molecules to promote soft tissue regeneration in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Med-X Research Institute, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qiongyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Malav S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Hyo-Eon
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Ju Hun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Med-X Research Institute, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, People's Republic of China.|Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.|Biological Systems and Engineering Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Seung-Wuk
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D004549:Elastin / Q000737:chemistry*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012212:Rheology; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: C022107:Bioglass; D020100:Hydrogels; D004549:Elastin