Dear Readers,

I hope this edition finds you well.

This week is a transitionary period between two conferences for me. You may recall that I recently went to Gordon Research Conference a week ago.

Next week, I’ll be in San Francisco for the ACS Fall Meeting. Will you be there? Otherwise, I’m curious about which other conference you might have attended this year. Hit ‘reply’ to let me know!

In this edition, I highlight two news articles and summarize two research papers. As written in the title, I’m especially appreciative of the biological work to mitigate Ulcerative Colitis (UC).

Hope that all readers enjoy learning about how we can combat the disease too.

In The News

This amazing shock absorbing gel made of Talin completely absorbed the impact of microscopic bullets traveling at four times the speed of sound without being damaged.

Research Updates

The skin is the first barrier of your immune system, but it is vulnerable to being damaged and the invasion of pathogenic bacteria in daily life. Thus, it is important to design an intelligent hydrogel which ensures stability and cleanliness of dressings and detaches in an on-demand manner without pain for wound care.

A simple one-pot method was used to prepare a novel Janus supramolecular hydrogel dressing with adjustable adhesion properties by introducing modified gelatin.

The GelMA-AA-[VBIm]Br (GAV) hydrogels with more [VBIm]Br content had lower degradation rate, which was because [VBIm]Br enhanced supramolecular interactions between the hydrogel networks, increasing the cross-linking density, thereby influencing the diffusion of collagenase.

VBIm is an ionic liquid with the full name: 1-vinyl-3-butylimidazolium bromide

For E. coli, S. aureus, and C. albicans, the antimicrobial rate of supramolecular hydrogel was almost 100 %.

In vitro cytotoxicity tests showed that the hydrogels possessed great biocompatibility to promote cell growth and proliferation.

The supramolecular hydrogel had the excellent wound healing efficiency due to the combined effect of GelMA and [VBIm]Br.

All those desired traits revealed that this Janus supramolecular hydrogel had obvious medical potential to be a promising candidate for wound management and treatment

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the most common intestinal diseases in the world with high morbidity. Here, the team designed a Sodium Ferulate (SF)-loaded bioadhesive Chondriotin Sulfate (CS)-Polydopamine (PDA) hydrogel for the safe and effective treatment of UC.

CS promotes the restoration of the mucosal barrier, and SF-loaded CS-PDA hydrogel could achieve enhanced UC therapy with favorable in vivo biocompatibility.

CS-PDA hydrogel has several advantages:

• can be prepared in vitro and rectally injected to colon tissues without worrying about whether the gelation time and temperature are appropriate

• formed by PDA and CS-HS, which are nonimmunogenic, biocompatible, and biodegradable

• can achieve in situ adhesion under physiological environments to prolong drug retention and facilitate the restoration of the mucosal barrier

The two-pronged approach aiming at scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and restoring mucosal barrier simultaneously provides new insight for effective UC treatment.

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