Prof. Woo-Jae Chung of Dept. Genetic Engineering published research paper on Nano Letters
- Biotech.
- Hit2632
- 2015-11-11
Prof. Woo-Jae Chung of Dept. Genetic Engineering published
research paper on Nano Letters
“Biomimetic Self-Templated Hierarchical Structures of Collagen-Like Peptide Amphiphiles”
A research team headed by Prof. Chung Woo-Jae from the Department of Genetic Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University has developed biomimetic self-templated hierarchical structures of collagen-like peptide amphiphiles. Developing hierarchically structured biomaterials with tunable chemical and physical properties like those found in nature is critically important to regenerative medicine and studies on tissue morphogenesis.
Despite advances in materials synthesis and assembly processes, our ability to control hierarchical assembly using fibrillar biomolecules remains limited. Prof. Chung's research team developed a bio-inspired approach to create collagen-like materials through directed evolutionary screening and directed self-assembly. They first synthesized peptide amphiphiles by coupling phage display-identified collagen-like peptides to long-chain fatty acids. Then, researchers assembled the amphiphiles into diverse, hierarchically organized, nanofibrous structures using directed self-assembly based on liquid crystal flow and its controlled deposition.
The resulting structures sustained and directed the growth of bone cells and hydroxyapatite biominerals. We believe these self-assembling collagen-like amphiphiles could prove useful in the structural design of tissue regenerating materials. "Our combined strategy of directed evolutionary screening and self-templating assembly provides opportunities for developing multifunctional biomimetic peptide-based materials and represents a means to study the dynamics of biomolecule-based supramolecular assemblies, areas that will play essential roles in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine," said Prof. Chung.
The results were published online by 'ACS Nano', an international chemical and nanomaterial journal, on September 22, 2015.
Find more information at:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b03313