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Functionalizing Hydrogels to Regulate Cellular Phenotype
Author(s) -
Kong Hyun Joon
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a21
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , extracellular matrix , cell adhesion , förster resonance energy transfer , microbiology and biotechnology , adhesion , progenitor cell , phenotype , chemistry , cell , biophysics , stem cell , nanotechnology , materials science , biology , fluorescence , gene , biochemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Stem and progenitor cells have emerged as a new generation of therapies to regenerate tissues and to treat a number of chronic diseases. For the successful use of these cells, it will be critical to precisely understand and regulate their fate, and we have studied the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) cues via biomimetic functionalization of hydrogels. The stiffness of ECM‐mimic hydrogels, the nanoscale organization of cell adhesion motifs, and the degradation rate of the gels together regulate cell phenotypes [1], non‐viral gene delivery [2], and tissue development [3]. Fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) techniques which allow one to examine the nanoscale rearrangements of cell adhesion motifs in the ECM‐mimic hydrogels following cell adhesion [1], and association/dissociation of condensed plasmid DNA taken up by cells [2] have been developed to examine the relation between gel variables and cell response.