Creative BioMart is a well-known expert who is committed to developing a variety of protein biomaterials as multifunctional platforms to study and solve various challenges in regenerative medicine. With years of experience, we provide customized services for enzyme-mediated crosslinking hydrogels to precisely meet customer requirements.

Introduction of Enzymatically-crosslinkable Materials

Enzymes play a central role in fundamental biological processes and have traditionally been used to trigger a variety of processes. Researchers currently use enzymes to modulate biomaterial reactions and modify the chemical structure of desired sites. Biomaterials that mimic the extracellular matrix in both modularity and crosslinking chemistry have the potential to recapitulate the instructive signals that ultimately control cell fate. Modular hydrogels based on protein polymers are produced by genetic engineering and enzymatic crosslinking. Such hydrogels have received much attention for their successful applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery, biocatalysts, selective delivery and printing.

Fig 1. Hydrogels for tissue injection and spraying mediated by enzymatic cross-linking. (Song W, et al., 2021)

Services

Enzyme activity is not only affected by substrate structure, but also by pH and temperature. This is why people try to tune the enzymes to the optimal conditions for gelation. As a leading service provider of protein engineering, Creative BioMart has established a platform for the preparation of hydrogels using enzyme-mediated cross-linking, developing a variety of cross-linking enzymes (tyrosinase, tyrosinase, transglutaminase, peroxidase and sortase, etc.) for efficient hydrogel fabrication.

Reaction conditions for enzyme catalytic activity (such as pH, temperature, and steric hindrance caused by substrate structure) make enzymatic crosslinking difficult to use. Our scientists utilize powerful tools such as directed evolution and computational engineering to screen or modify enzymes to enhance enzyme function and improve biocompatibility for enzymatic cross-linking. In addition, we have developed multiple advanced protein engineering strategies for enzymatic cross-linked hydrogel fabrication, including:

• Artificial enzymes: we designed metallo-artificial enzymes and non-metallo-artificial enzymes for enzymatic cross-linking. First we can combine the reactivity of transition metal complexes with the stability of protein scaffolds to mimic natural enzymes, which can make hydrogels faster and more robust than other enzymes. Second, we can conjugate natural mimetic functional groups of the active site to hydrophobic polymer/protein scaffolds.
• Computational screening and modeling: after understanding the correlation between amino acid sequence and protein structure from existing protein data, we develop various programs for predicting the structural and functional properties of mutants. This strategy will facilitate the discovery of various new cross-linking enzymes by innovatively saving labor and time.
• Engineered living materials: we create hydrogels using materials produced by metabolic pathways or transgenic mechanisms of living systems (such as bacterial metabolism).

Applications of Enzyme-mediated Cross-linkable Hydrogels

• Applied to 3D bioprinting.
• Used in hemostasis, sealants, dressings and minimally invasive treatments.
• Suitable for injection/spray.
• For therapeutic agent delivery.
• For tissue regeneration.

Creative BioMart is committed to improving the function of enzymatic cross-linking to manufacture new hydrogel materials for biomedical applications for global customers. We will work with you to develop the most appropriate strategy and provide the most meaningful data for your research for accelerating the research of life sciences. If you are interested in our services, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Reference

1. Song W, Ko J, Choi Y H, et al.. (2021) Recent advancements in enzyme-mediated crosslinkable hydrogels: In vivo-mimicking strategies. APL bioengineering. 5 (2): 021502.

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