Design and Biosynthesis of Elastin-like Artificial Extracellular Matrix Proteins Containing Periodically Spaced Fibronectin CS5 Domains

Abstract

Synthetic polymers have attained a dominant position in materials science and technology largely on the basis of their excellent physical and mechanical properties. The more subtle chemical and biological properties of natural polymers, especially of the proteins and nucleic acids, have been difficult to capture in synthetic macromolecular materials, in part because these properties arise from microstructural features that cannot be controlled in statistical polymerization processes. We describe herein the use of artificial genes to direct the synthesis of polymers of precisely controlled architecture, in which biological function specifically, the capacity to support attachment of vascular endothelial cellsis the primary object of the design. A long-term objective of this work is the development of improved materials for the regeneration, replacement or repair of vascular tissue.

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