Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Visible Light Crosslinkable Human Hair Keratin Hydrogels, Kan Yue, Yanhui Liu, Batzaya Byambaa, Vaishali Singh, Wanjun Liu, Xiuyu Li, Yunxia Sun, Yu Shrike Zhang, Ali Tamayol, Peihua Zhang, Kee Woei Ng, Nasim Annabi, Ali Khademhosseini

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Keratins extracted from human hair have emerged as a promising biomaterial for various biomedical applications, partly due to their wide availability, low cost, minimal immune response, and the potential to engineer autologous tissue constructs. However, the fabrication of keratin-based scaffolds typically relies on limited crosslinking mechanisms, such as via physical interactions or disulfide bond formation, which are time-consuming and result in relatively poor mechanical strength and stability. Here, we report the preparation of photocrosslinkable keratin-polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels via the thiol-norbornene “click” reaction, which can be formed within one minute upon irradiation of visible light. The resulting keratin-PEG hydrogels showed …