Aygul Zengin
Alumni
Project description
Hydrogels are interesting materials for tissue regeneration, because of their ability to mimic extracellular matrix, tunable mechanical properties and biocompatibility. However, they are often to brittle to be used for stiffer tissues (e.g.muscle, cartilage). Incorporation of nanoparticles within biomaterials to create nano-composites is an attractive approach to create new types of materials within the field of regenerative medicine that can show improved mechanical and/or biological performance compared to analog composites without nanoparticles. This project aims to develop new injectable, self-healing and stimuli-responsive biomaterials for tissue regeneration using inorganic nanosized building blocks (nanoparticles of ~100 nm) and hydrophilic linkers that self-assemble in a 3D matrix. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are proposed as ideal building blocks within these constructs as they are bioactive, improve mechanical and biological properties of incorporating polymers, and can controllably release various types of cargo.