Design and development of ecm-inspired peptidebased nanostructures for bioengineering and biomedicine

Advances in understanding of cell-matrix interactions and the regulation of cellular behaviors through nanobiotechnological tools have presented new perspectives for regenerative medicine. Peptide amphiphiles have been used as building blocks for development of bioactive synthetic nanofiber scaffolds for regenerative medicine applications. Biocompatibility, tailorable characteristics, and mechanical stability as well as bioactivitiy of these peptide nanostructures make them ideal candidates for biomedical applications. To guide natural cellular activities, biomaterials should provide a microenvironment similar to that experienced by cells under natural conditions. The native extracellular matrix (ECM) not only provides a suitable physical environment but also incorporates the necessary set of biochemical and mechanical signals to ensure the normal function of cells, as well as mediating their differentiation, morphogenesis and homeostasis by providing biological, physical, and chemical recognition signals that can trigger specific interactions with cell surface receptors. In this thesis, different ECM-mimetic peptide nanofiber formulations were designed and developed, which were shown to have superior chondrogenic and therapeutic effect on stem cell differentiation in vitro and cartilage regeneration in vivo. Hence, the synthetic peptide nanomaterials harbor great promise in mimicking specific ECM molecules as therapeutic agents and model systems.