Engineering globular protein-based hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Chemistry, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Fu, Linglan
issued: 2021-03-31T16:10:43Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Most recently, hydrogels composed of recombinant proteins/peptides have attracted great interest due to their diverse biofunctions, designable amino acids sequence, reactive side chains, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. Moreover, conformational switching of folded proteins induces structural and thermodynamic changes in the network, leading to dynamic properties and energy dissipative ability of hydrogels. Despite these advantages, applications of recombinant protein-based hydrogels are often limited by their poor mechanical performance and inefficient network crosslinking, due to steric hindrance of bulky protein domains in the networks. To optimize mechanical behaviors of structural protein-based hydrogels, it is important to understand the design principles of globular protein-based elastomeric networks. This thesis discusses the latest research on protein-based hydrogels, including network designs, crosslinking strategies, and resulting physical and mechanical features of the materials. In addition, classic rubber elasticity theory is introduced to reveal the effects of elastomeric network on physical and mechanical properties of synthetic polymer hydrogels. Based on the theory, a semi-quantitative tool was developed to predict/explain mechanical properties of globular folded polyprotein-based hydrogels, providing guidance for the rational design of globular polyprotein-based hydrogels with desired mechanical properties. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that the macroscopic mechanical energy generated from conformational change of globular proteins closely corresponds to single molecule mechanochemical events by investigating mechanochemical coupling cycles of globular folded proteins at both single-molecule and macroscopic levels. With the guidance of the design principle, we describe synthesis of super tough protein-based hydrogels based on a novel denatured-crosslinking hydrogelation method, which provides potential cartilage-lik…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/77680
note: ENGINEERING GLOBULAR PROTEIN-BASED HYDROGELS WITH TUNABLE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES by Linglan Fu B.Eng., Tianjin University, 2015 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Chemistry) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) March 2021 © Linglan Fu, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Engineering globular protein-based hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties submitted by Linglan Fu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry Examining Committee: Hongbin Li, Chemistry, UBC Supervisor Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu, Pathology, Chemistry, UBC Supervisory Committee Member David Chen, Chemistry, UBC University Examiner Mark Thachuk, Chemistry, UBC University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Suzana Straus, Chemistry, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Edward Grant, Chemistry, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Most recently, hydrogels composed of recombinant proteins/peptides have attracted great interest due to their diverse biofunctions, designable amino acids sequence, reactive side chains, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. Moreover, conformational switching of folded proteins induces structural and thermodynamic changes in the network, leading to dynamic properties and energy dissipative ability of hydrogels. Despite these advantages, applications of recombinant protein-based hydrogels are often limited by their poor mechanical performance and inefficient network crosslinking, due to steric hindrance of bulky protein domains in the networks. To optimize mechanical behaviors of structural protein-based hydrogels, it is important to understand the design principles of globular protein-based elastomeric networks. This thesis discusse…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0396440
language: eng
degree discipline: Chemistry
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/77680