Scientists Create Antimicrobial, Self-Healing Material to Mimic Human Tissue
According to their study published in the Nature Communications journal, the new material is a hydrogel based on tryptophan zipper (trpzip). It behaves like natural tissue and displays a number of qualities beneficial for medical, food, and manufacturing technology.
Kris Kilian, co-author of the study and associate professor at UNSW Sydney, explained that the hydrogel material is made from very simple and short peptides, which are the building blocks of proteins.
"The material is bioactive, which means that encapsulated cells behave as if they are living in natural tissue," said Kilian. "At the same time, the material is antimicrobial, meaning that it will prevent bacterial infections."
The scholar also underlined the self-healing quality of the newly invented hydrogel.
"It will reform after being squished, fractured, or after being expelled from a syringe. This makes it ideal for 3D bioprinting, or as an injectable material for medicine," he said.
In the eyes of Kilian, trpzip hydrogels and other materials alike will provide a "more uniform and cost-effective alternative" to reduce the number of animals used in scientific research.
As for their next step, the team is looking to work with industry and clinical scientists to test the utility of trpzip gels in tissue culture and explore the applications in 3D bioprinting and stem cell delivery.
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