Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
Institute of Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany.
Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. 2021;178:63-97. doi: 10.1007/10_2021_167.
In recent years, protein and peptide-based hydrogels have received great attention for applications in biomedicine. Compared to hydrogels based on synthetic materials, they have the decisive advantages of being biological origin, providing cells with a more in vivo-like microenvironment and possessing potential biological activity. Empowered by the steadily deepened understanding of the sequence-structure-function relationship of natural proteins and the rapid development of molecular-biological tools for accurate protein sequence editing, researchers have developed a series of recombinant proteins as building blocks and responsive blocks to design novel functional hydrogels. The use of multi-block design further expands the customizability of protein hydrogels. With the improvement of standardization of preparation and testing methods, protein hydrogels are expected to be widely used in medical treatment, skin care, artificial organs and wearable electronic devices. More recently, the emergence of catalytically active protein hydrogel brings new opportunities for applications of protein hydrogels. It is believed that through integrated approaches of engineering biology and materials sciences novel and hereto unthinkable protein hydrogels and properties may be generated for applications in areas beyond medicine and health, including biotechnology, food and agriculture, and even energy.
近年来，基于蛋白质和肽的水凝胶因其在生物医学中的应用而受到极大关注。与基于合成材料的水凝胶相比，它们具有生物起源的决定性优势，为细胞提供更类似于体内的微环境，并具有潜在的生物活性。随着对天然蛋白质序列-结构-功能关系的认识不断加深，以及用于精确蛋白质序列编辑的分子生物学工具的快速发展，研究人员已经开发出一系列重组蛋白质作为构建块和响应性模块来设计新型功能水凝胶。多块设计的使用进一步扩展了蛋白质水凝胶的可定制性。随着制备和测试方法标准化程度的提高，蛋白质水凝胶有望在医疗、护肤、人工器官和可穿戴电子设备等领域得到广泛应用。最近，催化活性蛋白质水凝胶的出现为蛋白质水凝胶的应用带来了新的机遇。人们相信，通过工程生物学和材料科学的综合方法，可以产生新颖的、前所未有的蛋白质水凝胶和特性，并将其应用于医学和健康领域之外的领域，包括生物技术、食品和农业，甚至能源领域。
