Development of 3D printable self-assembling peptide-containing photocurable resins

Project Description

An important research challenge surrounds the merger of sequence-defined biomacromolecules such as self-assembling peptides with synthetic polymers to create scalable hybrid materials with unique functionality. To address this challenge, we will develop a tunable, 3D printable, peptide-based bio-ink wherein (a) the sequence-defined peptide design is straightforward, (b) peptide synthesis is scalable by virtue of the short length of the designed peptide, (c) peptides self-assemble into target architectures such as 1D fibrillar assemblies, and (d) peptide self-assemblies are easily incorporable into a 3D printable and photo-crosslinked polyacrylate network. A number of important fundamental scientific questions will be addressed with the proposed research, including structure-property relationships of simple short sequence-defined peptides and how such materials can be incorporated into additive manufacturing technology. Such materials have direct implications in advanced materials for tissue engineering applications.

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