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PepGel: Home for Cells and Beyond

Our advanced technology features a magical self-healing hydrogel and its derived hybrids that are used in several important life science and medical products.

Platform

Our advanced technology features a magical self-healing hydrogel and its derived hybrids that are used in several important life science and medical products. This hydrogel easily transitions between liquid and gel states and regenerates its structure on its own. The hydrogel is stable in neutral pH and remains in gel formation through a wide range of temperatures, from 2° C to 80° C. PepGel PGmatrix and its hybrids are designed for advanced manufacturing of 3D cell cultures and scalable physiological spheroids (3D colonies) with nearly 96% representation of in vivo bioinformatics. These are perfect starter materials for applications in drug discovery, toxicology screening, bioprinting, regenerative medicine, biomedical therapeutics, and wound healing.  Furthermore, the PGmatrix-hiPSC hybrid system is the leading biotool for scalable high quality somatic cell manufacturing (e.g., hepatocytes) from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs).

Molecular Structure

PepGel’s hydrogel is a synthetic peptide-based material with 19 amino acid residues. The primary structure of the peptide was carefully designed from a combination of spider silk and the trans-membrane segment of the human muscle L-type calcium channel. The peptide has a great balance of hydrophobic, hydrophilic and charged segments which contribute to the material’s stability in neutral pH and different temperatures.

The magic of self-healing hydrogel

The mechanical strength of the hydrogel presents a special shear-thinning and rapid recovery property, which allows this hydrogel system to be delivered as an injectable material by syringe or pipette multiple times. Other stunning uses include:

Sensor Design
• Changing Orientation

Use with Microscopic Probes
• Optical Coherence Tomography
• Partial Wave Spectroscopy

Cell Releasing Agent
• Novel filtration methods

Imaging Phantoms
• With or without nanoparticles
• Photo-acoustic spectroscopy