REVOLUTIONARY DISCOVERY IN THE REALM OF BIOMATERIALS

A short peptide based on the tryptophan zipper (trpzip) motif is a new material belonging to a family of substances called hydrogels, the essence of life’s compressible substances found in all living things, such as cartilage in animals and in plants like seaweed. Human-made hydrogels are used in a broad range of commodity products ranging from food and cosmetics to contact lenses and absorbent materials, and more recently in medical research to seal wounds and replace damaged tissue.  Trpzip hydrogels are antimicrobial and self-healing, with tunable viscoelasticity, and unique yield-stress properties that allow immediate harvest of embedded cells easily and Trpzip hydrogels are amenable to syringe extrusion.

Tryptophan zippers are short chains of amino acids with multiple tryptophans that act as a zipper to promote self-assembly, which has been dubbed “Trpzip”. Organoid culture relies heavily on Matrigel as an exogenous extracellular matrix support material. On blending Trpzip hydrogels with varying amounts of laminin we could mimic the polarity and growth characteristics of organoids grown in Matrigel. Considering these extensive attributes, the Trpzip motif will prove a versatile building block for the supramolecular assembly of soft materials for biotechnology and medicine.

REFERENCE:

Nguyen, A.K., Molley, T.G., Kardia, E. et al. Hierarchical assembly of tryptophan zipper peptides into stress-relaxing bioactive hydrogels. Nat Commun 14, 6604 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41907-1

Self-Healing and Antimicrobial – Scientists Develop New Material That Could Revolutionize the Growth of Human Tissue.https://scitechdaily.com/self-healing-and-antimicrobial-scientists-develop-new-material-that-could-revolutionize-the-growth-of-human-tissue/