Over the past ten years, a new class of biologically-inspired polypeptide biomaterials has been discovered and tested in the context of cell culture, stem cell biology and tissue engineering.

These peptide hydrogel scaffolds, which we call PuraMatrix™, have been used successfully as a synthetic in vitro and in vivo ECM, proving themselves as a critical component to successful 3-D cell growth.

PuraMatrix™ is synthesized in small (16 amino acids long, 5 nanometers) oligopeptide fragments that self-assemble into nanofibers on a scale similar to the in vivo extracellular matrix (ECM).

The physical size relative to cells and proteins, and the amphiphilic peptides' impressive water-structuring abilities mimic in vivo ECM, allowing cells to proliferate, migrate through, and engage in critical cell-cell interactions in the presence of key regulatory molecules.

These fine nanofibers create a 3-dimensional porous scaffold that is very difficult or impossible to synthetically produce by other manufacturing techniques.The fiber density and average pore size correlates with the concentration of peptide solution that is used to produce the material, which can be varied from 0.02 to 3% in water (5-10mg/ml w/v) depending on the application and thickness of gel required.

The material consists of amphiphilic peptides that have alternating repeating units of positively-charged lysine or arginine and negatively-charged aspartate and glutamate residues. These peptides contain 50% charged residues and are characterized by their periodic repeats of alternating ionic hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids; thus, the interaction between the distinct polar and non-polar surfaces facilitates self-assembly of the material into a nanofiber hydrogel scaffold which can coat surfaces or encapsulate cells as a 3-D weak gel (Zhang, et al., 1995; Holmes, et al., 2000; Kisiday, et al., 2002).

Hence, PuraMatrix™ mimics important physical and chemical aspects of the in vivo microenvironment - a provisional synthetic matrix ECM - while eliminating complicating variables such as those from animal-derived materials such as collagen, fibronectin, mouse sarcoma ECM, and cadaver tissue.

Unlike most other materials, PuraMatrix™ can be sterilized through UV radiation or filtration, and has proven itself shelf-stable at room temperature for up to 18 months, lowering the processing, transportation, and inventory costs.