SYNTHETIC SELF-ASSEMBLING PEPTIDE AMPHIPHILE NANOMATERIALS FOR BIOENGINEERING APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Biomaterial has significantly evolved in the past decades and has become one of the most important engines to boost the application for tissue engineering. Cell culture plays a vital role in tissue engineering, which requires highly stable, functional and biocompatible materials to serve as the supportive matrix and scaffold. This thesis was designed to introduce a new class of synthetic biomaterial, namely peptide amphiphile (PA), with a special self-assembly system that closely resembles the roles of natural materials. We also demonstrated innovative methods for supramolecular inter-crosslink, which could be beneficial for tissue engineering as well as many other bioengineering applications.