Cytoskeletal stiffening in synthetic hydrogels

Strain stiffening in synthetic and biopolymer networks.

Strain-stiffening behavior common to biopolymer networks is difficult to reproduce in synthetic networks. Physically associating synthetic polymer networks can be an exception to this rule and can demonstrate strain-stiffening behavior at relatively low values of strain. Here, the stiffening behavior of model elastic networks of physically associating triblock copolymers is characterized by she...

Ultra-responsive soft matter from strain-stiffening hydrogels

The stiffness of hydrogels is crucial for their application. Nature's hydrogels become stiffer as they are strained. This stiffness is not constant but increases when the gel is strained. This stiffening is used, for instance, by cells that actively strain their environment to modulate their function. When optimized, such strain-stiffening materials become extremely sensitive and very responsiv...

Promoting Extracellular Matrix Crosslinking in Synthetic Hydrogels

Thermoelectricity in natural and synthetic hydrogels.

We describe a technique for measuring a Seebeck effect in gels and present data for three systems. Notably distinct signals are obtained for gel originating in the electrosensitive organs of marine sharks, synthetic collagen-based gel, and as a control, seawater, the gels' solvent. Only the gel of sharks shows a reversible thermoelectric signal. The difference between gel samples and seawater s...

Sprouting angiogenesis induces significant mechanical heterogeneities and ECM stiffening across length scales in fibrin hydrogels.

Matrix stiffness is a well-established instructive cue in two-dimensional cell cultures. Its roles in morphogenesis in 3-dimensional (3D) cultures, and the converse effects of cells on the mechanics of their surrounding microenvironment, have been more elusive given the absence of suitable methods to quantify stiffness on a length-scale relevant for individual cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) in...