Now showing in 4D
New hydrogel-based materials that can change shape in response to physiological stimuli, such as water or calcium, could represent the next generation of materials used to engineer tissues and organs.
UIC is home to a leader in this area: biomedical engineer Eben Alsberg. Research done by Alsberg and his colleagues shows that these materials have properties that are well-suited to tissue engineering: for example, they can bend into the tubular shape of blood vessels.
How do they do it? Some of these materials are pre-programmed to change shape in water, while others take on new forms only when other specific stimuli are present. These shape changes also can be engineered to be reversible and/or repeatable. This shape-shifting property characterizes these materials as “4D materials.” They are also cell-compatible as well as biodegradable.
Read the full story. Text adapted from a 2021 article by Sharon Parmet, UIC News.