Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Characterization Of Swelling Ratio And Water Content Of Hydrogels For Cartilage Engineering Applications, Emily E. Gill, Renay S.-C. Su, Julie C. Liu
Characterization Of Swelling Ratio And Water Content Of Hydrogels For Cartilage Engineering Applications, Emily E. Gill, Renay S.-C. Su, Julie C. Liu
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium
Due to the high prevalence of arthritis and cartilage-related injuries, tissue engineers are studying ways to grow cartilage tissue replacements. Resilin, an elastomeric protein found in insect cuticles, is known for its extraordinary resilience and elasticity. In previous studies, recombinant resilin-based hydrogels, or cross-linked protein networks, exhibited potential for use in cartilage tissue scaffolds. Our lab successfully developed resilin-based proteins with a sequence based on the mosquito gene and showed that resilin-based hydrogels possess mechanical properties of the same order of magnitude as native articular cartilage. In addition, these mechanical properties can be controlled by changing the protein concentration. To …