Peptide Hydrogels

Stimuli-responsive peptide-based hydrogels, which are hierarchical assemblies of peptide fibrils that undergo structural changes (e.g. via sol-gel transitions) in response to changes in the environment (e.g. via temperature or pH), have been proposed as materials for drugs/biologics delivery. We study the molecular determinants that regulate the hierarchical structure and degradation response of coiled-coil peptide hydrogels to varying temperature, pH, and peptide-drug/biologic interactions. These insights will enable computational design of precisely tunable and controllable delivery platforms for small molecule drugs and biologics.