Myan Le / Chemistry & Biochemistry / Faculty Mentor: He Dong
Peptides are adaptable structures that can be used to create a variety of nanostructures, which can then be used to create hydrogels and nanoparticles. The characteristics of peptide-based hydrogels are outstanding qualities such as tissue-like flexibility, biodegradability, high water absorption capacity, injectability, and mechanical stability. Peptide-based hydrogels are therefore the most intriguing for biological applications and diagnostic research, such as drug transport, cellular engineering, regenerative medicine, and biomedicine. Many self-assembling peptides, however, are unable to create strong hydrogels that are appropriate for use in biomedicine. In this work, we present the synthesis and design of a self-assembling peptide that can conjugate with PEG to generate a stable hydrogel. The peptide has an amphiphilic region that facilitates self-assembly into β-sheet nanofibers and contains lysine residues to improve solubility in aqueous solutions. A solid-phase peptide synthesizer was used to create the peptides, and HPLC was used to purify the final product. The β-sheet secondary structure of the peptide was revealed by CD spectroscopy, and MALDI was used to confirm the successful synthesis. These peptides will be employed in further studies to generate PEG-peptide conjugates, which will facilitate the production of strong hydrogels appropriate for a variety of biological uses.
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