Peptidic and Polymeric Phototransducer Biomaterials for Modulating Cardiac Form and Function

The cellular machinery of excitable cells, such as cardiomyocytes, processes a myriad of biophysical cues from its local environment that influence tissue morphogenesis and normal tissue functionality. This presentation focuses on the development of peptidic and polymeric biomaterials capable of modulating cellular signals and their corresponding tissue function via the transduction of optical and electrical phenomena at the interface of excitable cell-material in vitro. The molecular makeup of these biomaterials is carefully designed with self-assembling, organic pi-conjugated networks to endow them with unique optoelectronic properties that dynamically interact with electroactive living units. We utilize peptide conjugation to these materials for presenting bioadhesive epitopes to the cells, as well as for facilitating non-covalent interactions (<i>i.e.</i>, energy donor-bearing peptides and their complementary acceptor-bearing sequence) resulting in hierarchically ordered structures that maximize transport efficiency. The peptide chains also provide a functional handle for covalently stabilizing the transducer units in topographically defined substrates, altogether offering several advantages for the tunability of the resulting bioscaffolds. To date, our biomaterial designs have yielded scaffolds that are photocurrent generating and can be micropatterned on surfaces as bioscaffolds to induce cardiac tissue anisotropy. In the future, we envision that this class of bioscaffold that induces light sensitivity to native (or gene modification-free) excitable cells when interfaced with them will offer advancements in promoting regenerative and maturation processes for electroactive tissues with high spatiotemporal resolution.