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Merck

Highly Elastic and Conductive Human-Based Protein Hybrid Hydrogels.

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) (2015-11-10)
Nasim Annabi, Su Ryon Shin, Ali Tamayol, Mario Miscuglio, Mohsen Afshar Bakooshli, Alexander Assmann, Pooria Mostafalu, Jeong-Yun Sun, Suzanne Mithieux, Louis Cheung, Xiaowu Shirley Tang, Anthony S Weiss, Ali Khademhosseini
ABSTRACT

A highly elastic hybrid hydrogel of methacryloyl-substituted recombinant human tropoelastin (MeTro) and graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles are developed. The synergistic effect of these two materials significantly enhances both ultimate strain (250%), reversible rotation (9700°), and the fracture energy (38.8 ± 0.8 J m(-2) ) in the hybrid network. Furthermore, improved electrical signal propagation and subsequent contraction of the muscles connected by hybrid hydrogels are observed in ex vivo tests.

MATERIALS
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Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
Tropoelastin human, recombinant, expressed in E. coli, 1 mg