Rheological characterization of hydrogels formed by recombinantly produced spider silk

Title data

Rammensee, Sebastian ; Hümmerich, Daniel ; Hermanson, Kevin D. ; Scheibel, Thomas ; Bausch, Andreas R.:
Rheological characterization of hydrogels formed by recombinantly produced spider silk.
In: Applied Physics A. Vol. 82 (2006) Issue 2 . - pp. 261-264.
ISSN 1432-0630
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-005-3431-x

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

Many fibrous proteins such as spider silks exhibit impressive mechanical properties and are highly biocompatible leading to many potential biomaterial applications. For applications such as tissue engineering, polymer hydrogels have been proposed as an effective means of producing porous but stable scaffolds. Here, nanofiber-based hydrogels were produced from engineered and recombinantly produced spider silk proteins. The silk nanofibers are stable semi-flexible polymers which assemble into hydrogel networks. We studied the hydrogel rheology and determined the concentration dependence of the elastic modulus. AFM images indicate that the nanofibers might assemble into branch-like structures, which would also be consistent with the measured rheological behavior. Since the developed spider silk hydrogels are stable over weeks and show a high elastic modulus at low volume fractions, they are well suited for a broad variety of applications.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Institutions of the University:	Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science > Chair Biomaterials Faculties > Faculty of Engineering Science > Chair Biomaterials > Chair Biomaterials - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel Profile Fields > Advanced Fields > Advanced Materials Profile Fields > Advanced Fields > Molecular Biosciences Profile Fields > Advanced Fields > Polymer and Colloid Science Profile Fields > Emerging Fields > Food and Health Sciences Profile Fields Profile Fields > Advanced Fields Profile Fields > Emerging Fields
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	600 Technology, medicine, applied sciences 600 Technology, medicine, applied sciences > 620 Engineering
Date Deposited:	25 Sep 2015 06:38
Last Modified:	26 Nov 2015 10:51
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/19548