Browsing by Subject "Thiol-ene chemistry"

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    Biomimetic stiffening of cell-laden hydrogels via sequential thiol-ene and hydrazone click reactions
    (Elsevier, 2021) Chang, Chun-Yi; Johnson, Hunter C.; Babb, Olivia; Fishel, Melissa L.; Lin, Chien-Chi; Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology
    Hydrogels with dynamically tunable crosslinking are invaluable for directing stem cell fate and mimicking a stiffening matrix during fibrosis or tumor development. The increases in matrix stiffness during tissue development are often accompanied by the accumulation of extracellular matrices (e.g., collagen, hyaluronic acid (HA)), a phenomenon that has received little attention in the development of dynamic hydrogels. In this contribution, we present a gelatin-based cell-laden hydrogel system capable of being dynamically stiffened while accumulating HA, a key glycosaminoglycans (GAG) increasingly deposited by stromal cells during tumor progression. Central to this strategy is the synthesis of a dually-modified gelatin macromer – gelatin-norbornene-carbohydrazide (GelNB-CH), which is susceptible to both thiol-norbornene photopolymerization and hydrazone click chemistry. We demonstrate that the crosslinking density of cell-laden thiol-norbornene hydrogels can be dynamically tuned via simple incubation with aldehyde-bearing macromers (e.g., oxidized dextran (oDex) or oHA). The GelNB-CH hydrogel system is highly cytocompatible, as demonstrated by in situ encapsulation of pancreatic cancer cells (PCC) and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF). The unique dynamic stiffening scheme provides a platform to study tandem accumulation of HA and elevation in matrix stiffness in the pancreatic tumor microenvironment.
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    Chemically defined and dynamic click hydrogels support hair cell differentiation in human inner ear organoids
    (Elsevier, 2025) Arkenberg, Matthew R.; Jafarkhani, Mahboubeh; Lin, Chien-Chi; Hashino, Eri; Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine
    The mechanical properties in the inner ear microenvironment play a key role in its patterning during embryonic development. To recapitulate inner ear development in vitro, three-dimensional tissue engineering strategies including the application of representative tissue models and scaffolds are of increasing interest. Human inner ear organoids are a promising model to recapitulate developmental processes; however, the current protocol requires Matrigel that contains ill-defined extracellular matrix components. Here, we implement an alternative, chemically defined, dynamic hydrogel to support the differentiation of human inner ear organoids. Specifically, thiol-norbornene and hydrazide-aldehyde click chemistries are used to fabricate inner ear organoid-laden, gelatin-based scaffolds. We identify optimal formulations to support hair cell development with comparable efficiency and fidelity to Matrigel-cultured organoids. These results suggest that the chemically defined hydrogel may serve as a viable alternative to Matrigel for inner ear tissue engineering.