Fabrication of engineered M13 bacteriophages into liquid crystalline films and fibers for directional growth and encapsulation of fibroblasts

Abstract

We report on a novel method to utilize genetically engineered M13 phages as functional nano building blocks that can form structurally aligned film and fiber matrices for tissue engineering scaffolds. Two- and three-dimensional directionally aligned long range ordered structures were constructed using shearing and polyionic complexation with cationic polymers. Further we have demonstrated that aligned phage-based tissue engineering materials can guide and stimulate the growth of the target fibroblasts. Our phage-based tissue engineering scaffolds can be used for providing micro and macroscopic control of cell behaviors.