Great strides have been made in the area of hydrogel science since the first hydrogels were described in the 1960s. Hydrogelation occurs in response to a physical or chemical stimulus, such as temperature, pH, electric or magnetic field, enzymatic modification, light and others. These three-dimensional networks consisting of mainly water molecules represent a unique class of materials, with many applications including cell therapeutics, cartilage/bone regeneration, sustained drug release and drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, 3D bioprinting and extracellular culture medium (ECM) for cancer cells, stem cells and neuronal cells. ChemBioGels 2021 will feature on-going work in the area of hydrogel science.
Great strides have been made in the area of hydrogel science since the first hydrogels were described in the 1960s. Hydrogelation occurs in response to a physical or chemical stimulus, such as temperature, pH, electric or magnetic field, enzymatic modification, light and others. These three-dimensional networks consisting of mainly water molecules represent a unique class of materials, with many applications including cell therapeutics, cartilage/bone regeneration, sustained drug release and drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, 3D bioprinting and extracellular culture medium (ECM) for cancer cells, stem cells and neuronal cells. ChemBioGels 2021 will feature on-going work in the area of hydrogel science.
Great strides have been made in the area of hydrogel science since the first hydrogels were described in the 1960s. Hydrogelation occurs in response to a physical or chemical stimulus, such as temperature, pH, electric or magnetic field, enzymatic modification, light and others. These three-dimensional networks consisting of mainly water molecules represent a unique class of materials, with many applications including cell therapeutics, cartilage/bone regeneration, sustained drug release and drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, 3D bioprinting and extracellular culture medium (ECM) for cancer cells, stem cells and neuronal cells. ChemBioGels 2021 will feature on-going work in the area of hydrogel science.
Professor Ehud Gazit
Professor Ehud Gazit
Professor Ehud Gazit
Peptide and metabolite materials: From natural self-assembly to hydrogels with ultralow critical gelation concentration
Short Abstract:
We use a minimalistic, reductionist, and non-biased approach in order to identify the most fundamental molecular recognition and self-assembling modules in nature. The identified building blocks could spontaneously form ordered assemblies including nanotubes, nanospheres, nanoplates, and hydrogels with nano-scale order. Furthermore, these structures possess unique physical properties including mechanical, optical, electronic, and piezoelectric ones both the nano- micro- and macroscopic levels. We established the ability of very short peptides, as short as dipeptide and tripeptide, to form ordered assemblies with piezoelectric properties comparable to inorganic materials such as lithium niobate. These peptide assemblies and especially those related to the diphenylalanine dipeptide, are being studied by numerous groups around the world. The modification of the peptides with Fmoc-groups often results in the formation of hydrogels. By engineering these building blocks, we obtained hydrogels with the lowest critical gelation concentration ever reported. In recent years, we became more and more interested in metabolites, both as the basis for the disease but also as building blocks for materials with mechanical, optical, and electronic properties. Such metabolites could include amino acids, nucleobases, and vitamins. Many of the properties, including piezoelectricity, that are found in short peptides could be observed also in metabolite assemblies. Intriguingly, natural systems also use metabolites to form optically-active assemblies such as tapetum lucidum retro-reflectors. We will also discuss our attempts to make functional hydrogels with self-healing, conductivity, and piezoelectric properties based on peptides and metabolites.
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Short CV:
Ehud Gazit is a Professor and Endowed Chair at the School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, and a member of the Executive Council of Tel Aviv University. Gazit received his B.Sc. (summa cum laude) after completing his studies at the Special Program for Outstanding Students of Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. (with highest distinction) at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1997. For his Ph.D. work, he received the John F. Kennedy Award. He has been a faculty member at Tel Aviv University since 2000, after completing his postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he also had held a visiting appointment (2002–2011). He also had a visiting appointment at St John's College, Cambridge University, Senior Visiting Professor appointment at Fudan University, China, and a Guest Professor appointment at Umeå University, Sweden.