Biocompatibility and characterization of a peptide amphiphile hydrogel for applications in peripheral nerve regeneration.

Peripheral nerve injury is a debilitating condition for which new bioengineering solutions are needed. Autografting, the gold standard in treatment, involves sacrifice of a healthy nerve and results in loss of sensation or function at the donor site. One alternative solution to autografting is to use a nerve guide conduit designed to physically guide the nerve as it regenerates across the injury gap.

Training induces cognitive bias: the case of a simulation-based emergency airway curriculum.

Introduction: Training-induced cognitive bias may affect performance. Using a simulation-based emergency airway curriculum, we tested the hypothesis that curriculum design would induce bias and affect decision making.

Methods: Twenty-three novice anesthesiology residents were randomized into 2 groups.

Liposome encapsulation of a photochemical NO precursor for controlled nitric oxide release and simultaneous fluorescence imaging.

Described are photochemical studies of the nitric oxide precursors, trans-Cr(L)(ONO)(2)(+) (L = cyclam = 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane, CrONO, or L = mac = 5,7-dimethyl-6-anthracenylcyclam, mac-CrONO) encapsulated in phosphatidylcholine liposomes. The liposomes provide a means to maintain a localized high concentration of NO releasing complexes and are easily modified for in vivo targeting through self-assembly. Steady, controlled release of NO is seen after photolysis of the liposome-encapsulated CrONO as compared to the burst of NO release seen by the unencapsulated complex in oxygenated solutions.

Structural effects and lipid membrane interactions of the pH-responsive GALA peptide with fatty acid acylation.

GALA is a pH-responsive, membrane-perturbing peptide designed to fold from a random coil at physiological pH to an amphipathic α-helix under mildly acidic conditions. Because of its pH-activated function, GALA has been sought-after as a component of intracellular drug delivery systems that could actively propel endosomal escape. In this study, we conjugated GALA with lauryl and palmitoyl fatty acid tails as model hydrophobic moieties and examined the physicochemical characteristics and activities of the resulting peptide amphiphiles (PAs).

De novo design of bioactive protein-resembling nanospheres via dendrimer-templated peptide amphiphile assembly.

Self-assembling peptide amphiphiles (PAs) have been extensively used in the development of novel biomaterials. Because of their propensity to form cylindrical micelles, their use is limited in applications where small spherical micelles are desired. Here we present a platform method for controlling the self-assembly of biofunctional PAs into spherical 50 nm particles using dendrimers as shape-directing scaffolds.

A versatile approach to high-throughput microarrays using thiol-ene chemistry.

Microarray technology has become extremely useful in expediting the investigation of large libraries of materials in a variety of biomedical applications, such as in DNA chips, protein and cellular microarrays. In the development of cellular microarrays, traditional high-throughput printing strategies on stiff, glass substrates and non-covalent attachment methods are limiting. We have developed a facile strategy to fabricate multifunctional high-throughput microarrays embedded at the surface of a hydrogel substrate using thiol-ene chemistry.