Shubhangini Verma
PhD student, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Injectable and biocompatible hydrogel from amyloidogenic peptide stretch of human tau306–311
Abstract
A vast majority of peptide hydrogelators harbor a bulky, non-native aromatic moiety. Such foreign moieties raise safety concerns as far as biomedical applications of hydrogels are concerned. The hydrogel research, therefore, has branched to another dimension– to identify native or native-like short peptide stretches that could cause the gelation of biological fluids. Using well-defined criteria to identify native peptide stretches that could form a viscous solution in water but cause gelation of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), we identified the hexapeptide stretch from human tau, viz. tau306–311, as a promising injectable hydrogelator. The peptide causes instant gelation of PBS and the cell culture media. Such hydrogels find applications as drug delivery vehicles, scaffolds for mammalian cell culture, wound-dressing material, etc.
Bio
Shubhangini Singh Verma is a PhD student in IIT Guwahati, India. She has her expertise in both experimental and computational approaches. Her PhD work focuses on the development of peptide-based biocompatible hydrogels for biomedical applications. She is currently exploring short native peptides to design injectable hydrogels with promising potential in drug delivery and cell culture systems. Recently she has published a research article. In future, by integrating molecular design, characterization techniques, and in vitro evaluations, she aims to contribute to the development of next-generation biomaterials that are tunable, safe, and efficient.