Collagen-Based Hydrogels

Collagen is the most abundant structural protein in the body. Its presence is critical to maintaining tissue homeostatis; however, collagen synthesis can undergo dysregulation in disease and injury, leading to fibrotic and inflammatory pathogenic tissue response. TEB harnesses the use of collagen derivatives in regenerative medicine by developing novel collagen-based polymer materials for multi-enzymatic and bio-orthogonal crosslinking strategies. These materials are highly tuneable and allow for the fabrication of a wide array of double and multidimensional networks. Our research focuses on how these advanced polymers can be used to tune and guide vascular network morphologies at different hierarchical levels.