Presenting Author:

Jacqueline Godbe

Principal Investigator:

Samuel Stupp, Ph.D.

Department:

McCormick

Keywords:

self-assembly, supramolecular, mechanical, G', hydrogel, peptide amphiphile

Location:

Third Floor, Feinberg Pavilion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital

B24 - Basic Science

Oligo-lysine gelator length controls mechanical properties of E3 PA hydrogels

For negatively charged, supramolecular nanofibers, it was found that gelation with oligo-lysines (Kn, n = 2…15) produced weak gels with G’ ~ n independent of [K] monomer concentration. We have also shown that the length of the gelator is inversely proportional to the stereotyped radius of nanofiber bundles formed by Kn gelation. In this work, we demonstrate a new method to control the mechanical properties of supramolecular hydrogels independent of cross-link density, pH or ionic concentration.