This project aims to study naturally occurring catch bonds, molecular links with unique mechanical properties, and realize the first artificial equivalents using supramolecular mechanochemistry. This study revolves around the following objectives:
* a detailed exploration of the molecular mechanisms by which biological catch bonds function (e.g. how is a force-induced conformational switch encoded in their chemical design and macromolecular architecture)
* the establishment of novel tools to probe the molecular mechanics of catch bonds both at the scale of single molecules and catch bond collectives in materials
* the design and synthesis of artificial catch bonds
* the preparation and study of catch bonded materials
* the development of theoretical frameworks to describe and predict catch bond function, at the molecular and material scale.
* using mechanically engineered materials to promote in-vitro cell culture
Catch bonds are a crucial design element used by Nature to build smart and mechanically-aware materials: they play a crucial role in a wide array of biological processes, ranging from cell adhesion in tissues, bacterial adhesion in biofilms, mechanical communication between cells, blood clotting, mechanotransduction and cell division. To date, these design elements have remained exlusive to nature as there were no strategies to make molecular designs in a synthetic laboratory to emulate their mechanical response. As a result, a crucial biological design strategy to make materials that can perceive and actively adapt to mechanical stimuli remained beyond reach for bio-mimetic materials. We anticipate that the successful completion of this project will bring catch bonds to the toolbox of the material scientists, e.g. to create mechano-adaptive gels for soft robotics, as a means to tailor mechanical communications between cells in tissue engineering and to create novel bio-inspired hydrogels which are resilient to mechanical damage. Achieving this goal faces several challenges around which this project is centered, including how to design a unique molecular mechanotype from scratch, how to quantify catch bonds in a high-throughput fashion, for which a new method was designed and implemented (see image FFS.png) how to probe mechanical patterns in (catch) bonded materials and how to design materials, based on these principles, to promote cell culture and proliferation.
