Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Despite the advances made in the field of functional materials for organ and tissue repair, the backbone structural component for most materials continues to rely on using animal or plant derived proteins that hampers translation and dramatically narrows the space for innovation. The main goal of this NSERC Discovery Program is to develop the next generation of peptide-based materials whose composition can be finely tuned to be used in the repair of different tissues and organs as well as for wound closure. Further, using peptides as structural components of the materials will allow for superior spatial control on the incorporation of nanoparticles that can boost the regenerative properties, and functionalities, of the materials. The main Aims of this program are as follows: (Aim 1) To optimize the delivery system and physically & chemically characterize the peptide-based materials that will be used as a platform for tissue repair. (Aim 2) To engineer the peptide sequences for allowing the incorporation of nanoelements such as electroconductive nanogold and antimicrobial nanosilver. Lastly, (Aim 3) to ex vivo and in vitro assess the properties of the materials. This Discovery Program will focus on the development, characterization, and ex vivo and in vitro testing of the materials including the evaluation of their biocompatibility using a range of human cell cultures such as heart and non-contractile skin cells.