Rapid rheological screening to identify conditions of biomaterial hydrogelation

Abstract

Hydrogels engineered for biomedical applications consist of numerous components, each of which can affect the material assembly and final mechanical properties. We present methods that rapidly generate rheological libraries to identify regimes of hydrogel assembly in a large composition parameter space. This method conserves both material and time, and leads to critical insight into assembly mechanisms and mechanics, which can then be used for further materials development and optimization.