Date of Award
12-2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Chair
Dr. Tristan Clemons
Committee Chair School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 2
Dr. Sarah Morgan
Committee Member 2 School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 3
Dr. William Jarrett
Committee Member 3 School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 4
Dr. Boran Ma
Committee Member 4 School
Polymer Science and Engineering
Committee Member 5
Dr. Adam Smith
Abstract
Tissue regeneration represents one of the greatest unmet needs in modern medicine, where the limited availability of donor organs and skin grafts underscores the urgent demand for biomaterials that can replace or repair damaged tissue by integrating living cells, bioactive signals, and supportive scaffolds into the body’s own healing processes. Achieving this goal requires multifunctional biomaterials that both protect and sustain cells during transplantation and actively engage the biological environment to drive constructive tissue remodeling. Central to this vision is the development of scaffold-like materials that not only provide structural support for cell adhesion, proliferation, and migration, but also deliver biochemical and biophysical cues essential for regeneration—an area that demands continued innovation in materials design to overcome the limitations of existing approaches. The goal of this dissertation was to address critical biological challenges through a materials-centric approach, developing novel biomaterials to advance the field of regenerative engineering. Specifically, this work presents the design, characterization, and application of supramolecular polymers tailored for tissue engineering applications, spanning strategies for deep dermal wound repair to the development of cardioprotective scaffolds.
Chapter I provides the foundational background and motivation for this work, emphasizing the fundamental principles of supramolecular polymerization and surveying synthetic scaffolds employed in wound healing. Chapters II and III describe the development of a polymeric platform capable of scavenging harmful extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) through covalent interactions, leveraging the scaffold itself as a therapeutic agent to protect tissue and establish a regenerative matrix directly at the site of injury. Chapters IV through VI focus on the design and characterization of a sprayable, cell-laden hydrogel scaffold for skin regeneration, examining the influence of cell loading on material properties, evaluating in vitro bioactivity, and demonstrating efficacy in both mouse and pig injury models. Collectively, this work establishes peptide amphiphile-based scaffolds as versatile and robust materials for supporting tissue regeneration following acute injury, bridging fundamental design principles with translational applications in regenerative medicine.
ORCID ID
0000-0002-0014-5555
Copyright
Penelope Jankoski, 2025
Recommended Citation
Jankoski, Penelope E., "Self-Assembling Supramolecular Polymers as Tissue Scaffolds to Promote Tissue Regeneration Following Injury" (2025). Dissertations. 2419.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/2419
Included in
Biology and Biomimetic Materials Commons, Biomaterials Commons, Polymer and Organic Materials Commons