Decellularized Biohybrid Nerve Promotes Motor Axon Projections.

Developing nerve grafts with intact mesostructures, superior conductivity, minimal immunogenicity, and improved tissue integration is essential for the treatment and restoration of neurological dysfunctions. A key factor is promoting directed axon growth into the grafts. To achieve this, biohybrid nerves are developed using decellularized rat sciatic nerve modified by in situ polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT).

Aligned Bioelectronic Polypyrrole/Collagen Constructs for Peripheral Nerve Interfacing.

Electrical stimulation has shown promise in clinical studies to treat nerve injuries. This work is aimed to create an aligned bioelectronic construct that can be used to bridge a nerve gap, directly interfacing with the damaged nerve tissue to provide growth support. The conductive three-dimensional bioelectronic scaffolds described herein are composite materials, comprised of conductive polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles embedded in an aligned collagen hydrogel.

Conducting Polymer Nanoparticles with Intrinsic Aqueous Dispersibility for Conductive Hydrogels.

Conductive hydrogels are promising materials with mixed ionic-electronic conduction to interface living tissue (ionic signal transmission) with medical devices (electronic signal transmission). The hydrogel form factor also uniquely bridges the wet/soft biological environment with the dry/hard environment of electronics. The synthesis of hydrogels for bioelectronics requires scalable, biocompatible fillers with high electronic conductivity and compatibility with common aqueous hydrogel formulations/resins.

An investigation of binding interactions of tumor-targeted peptide conjugated polyphenols with the kinase domain of ephrin B4 and B2 receptors.

Recent studies have shown that Ephrin receptors may be upregulated in several types of cancers including breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers, making them a target for drug design. In this work, we have utilized a target-hopping approach to design new natural product-peptide conjugates and examined their interactions with the kinase-binding domain of EphB4 and EphB2 receptors. The peptide sequences were generated through point mutations of the known EphB4 antagonist peptide TNYLFSPNGPIA.

Exploring the Interactions of Ionic Liquids with Bio-Organic Amphiphiles Using Computational Approaches.

Bio-organic amphiphiles have been shown to effectively impart unique physicochemical properties to ionic liquids resulting in the formation of versatile hybrid composites. In this work, we utilized computational methods to probe the formation and properties of hybrids prepared by mixing three newly designed bio-organic amphiphiles with 14 ionic liquids containing cholinium or glycine betaine cations and a variety of anions. The three amphiphiles were designed such that they contain unique biological moieties found in nature by conjugating (a) malic acid with the amino acid glutamine, (b) thiomalic acid with the antiviral, antibacterial pyrazole compound [3-(3,5-dimethyl-1-pyrazol-1-yl)benzyl]amine, and (c) Fmoc-protected valine with diphenyl amine.

Self-Assembled Peptide-Based Biocomposites for Near-Infrared Light Triggered Drug Release to Tumor Cells.

Peptide-based nanomaterials are increasingly gaining popularity due to their specificity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In this work, a new multi-layered peptide-based biocomposite for targeting MCF-7 breast cancer cells is developed. The amphipathic Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-Leu-Ser peptide is synthesized, which is conjugated to a tumor-targeting peptide sequence Gly-Cys-Gly-Asn-Ser to form Fmoc-L-S-G-C-G-N-S (FLS) assemblies.

Development of Nanoscale Hybrids from Ionic Liquid-Peptide Amphiphile Assemblies as New Functional Materials.

Over the years, ionic liquids (ILs) have gained tremendous importance because of their unique properties and plethora of applications. In this work, we have developed a new nanoscale hybrid gel consisting of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate, [Cmim][dmp], and self-assembled peptide nanoassemblies. The peptide nanoassemblies were formed by self-assembly of a newly synthesized peptide bolaamphiphile bis(-α-amido-threonine) 1,7 heptane dicarboxylate (ThrC7).

Varying fish scale derived hydroxyapatite bound hybrid peptide nanofiber scaffolds for potential applications in periodontal tissue regeneration.

New peptide based hybrid scaffolds were prepared by blending two different fish scale derived hydroxyapatite with functionalized peptide nanofibers for potential applications in periodontal tissue regeneration. The nanofibers were prepared by self-assembly of the newly designed peptide bolaamphiphile Bis (N-α-amido-glutamic acid) 1,7 heptane tetracarboxylate and functionalized with a segment of the tyrosine rich amylogenin peptide sequence MPLPPHPGHPGYINF followed by polygalacturnonic acid and hydroxyapatite derived from salmon or red-snapper fish scales. The binding interactions of the components of the scaffold was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy as well as SEM imaging.