1. Rational design and development of multifunctional stimulatory hydrogels for bone tissue regeneration: To set the basis for the development of multifunctional hydrogels, we have expanded our peptide-based hydrogel library. We designed various peptide building blocks by different approaches, including rational sequence engineering of a collagen-derived tripeptide, backbone modification, and co-assembly with various components such as polysaccharides. These diverse building blocks allowed us to fabricate hydrogels of different and improved physical properties.
2. 3D printing of layered hydrogel scaffolds based on CT computer-assisted design: In spite of numerous advantageous properties, many peptide-based hydrogels are non-injectable, a key requirement for the fabrication of 3D bioinks. To convey printability properties to a non-injectable dipeptide-based hydrogel, we modified the peptide via chemical conjugation. Co-assembly with gelatin allowed us to fabricate a composite printable hydrogel without the need for any potentially harmful post-printing crosslinking processes.
3. Complete in-vitro analysis of the fabricated scaffolds: Aiming to screen the newly-designed peptide-based hydrogels for potential use as tissue regeneration scaffolds, we utilized various cell culture assays, allowing to assess cells proliferation and differentiation. We could show the growth and differentiation of pre-osteoblast cells on our newly-designed scaffolds. Moreover, our 3D-printed peptide-based hydrogels could support the growth of murine fibroblasts and stem cells.
4. Explore bone regeneration by the designed scaffolds using in-vivo models: Aiming to demonstrate the utilization of our hydrogels in vivo, a polysaccharide-incorporated peptide-based hydrogel was implanted in critical-sized bone defects in rats. In contrast to control treatments, the hydrogel treatment resulted in almost complete bone restoration and an immunomodulatory effect.
