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RESEARCH

Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine

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A multidisciplinary team of chemists, material scientists, biologists, engineers and doctors work together to develop new materials to improve standard point of care treatments. Regenerative medicine approach is a promising field to construct new tissues and to aid healing process by providing an appropriate support. In treatment of diseases and defects, cellular therapy is one of the techniques. In our group, peptide nanostructures are utilized as synthetic extracellular matrix materials providing biological, chemical and physical cues to mimic the natural environment of the cells.

Selected Publications:

  • Ustun, S., Tombuloglu, A., Guler, M. O., Tekinay, A. B., “Growth and differentiation of pre-chondrogenic cells on bioactive self-assembled peptide nanofibers”, Biomacromolecules, 2013, 14, 17.

  • Mammadov, B., Mammadov, R., Guler, M. O., Tekinay, A. B., “Cooperative Effect of Heparan Sulfate and Laminin Mimetic Peptide Nanofibers on Promotion of Neurite Outgrowth”, Acta Biomaterialia, 2012, 8, 2077.

  • Ceylan, H., Kocabey, S., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., “Surface-Adhesive and Osteogenic Self-Assembled Peptide Nanofibers for Bioinspired Functionalization of Titanium Surfaces”, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 3929.

  • Mammadov, R., Mammadov, B., Toksoz, S., Aydin, B., Yagci, R., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., “Heparin Mimetic Peptide Nanofibers Promote Angiogenesis”, Biomacromolecules, 2011, 12, 3508.

 

Supramolecular Chemistry

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Self-assembly is an important technique for materials design using noncovalent interactions including hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic, electrostatic, metal-ligand, pi-pi and van der Waals interactions. Various self-organized supramolecular nanostructures have been produced by using these nonvalent interactions. In our group, peptide nanostructures are explored for their further utilization in catalysis and used as a template in synthesis of inorganic materials including catalysts. Also, hybrid nanosystems including peptide nanostructures integrated iron oxide nanoparticles or mesoporous silica nanoparticles have been acquired through noncovalent interactions, which can be used for bioimaging and controlled drug delivery.

Selected Publications:

  • Sardan, M ., Yildirim, A., Mumcuoglu, D., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., ” Noncovalent functionalization of mesoporous silica nanoparticles with amphiphilic peptides”, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C4TB00037D

  • Ceylan, H., Ozgit-Akgun, C., Erkal, T.S., Donmez, I., Garifullin, R., Tekinay, A.B., Usta, H., Biyikli, N., Guler, M. O., “Size-controlled conformal nanofabrication of biotemplated three-dimensional TiO2 and ZnO nanonetworks”, Scientific Reports, 2013, 3, 2306, DOI: 10.1038/srep02306.

  • Acar, H., Garifullin, R., Aygun, L.E., Okyay, A.K., Guler, M. O., “Amyloid-Like Peptide Nanofiber Templated Titania Nanostructures as Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Anodic Materials”, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2013,1, 10979.

  • Khalily, M.A., Ustahuseyin, O., Garifullin, R., Genc, R., Guler, M. O., “Supramolecular Peptide Nanofiber Templated Pd Nanocatalyst for Efficient Suzuki Coupling Reactions in Aqueous Conditions”, Chemical Communications, 2012, 48, 11358.

  • Acar, H., Genc, R., Erkal, T.S., Urel, M., Dana, A., Guler, M. O., “Self-Assembled Peptide Nanofiber Templated One-Dimensional Gold Nanostructures Exhibiting Resistive Switching”, Langmuir, 2012, 28, 16347.

  • Garifullin, R., Erkal, T. S., Tekin, S., Ortac, B., Gurek, A. G., Ahsen, V., Yaglioglu, H. G., Elmali, A., Guler, M. O., “Encapsulation of Zinc Phthalocyanine Derivative in Self-Assembled Peptide Nanofibers”, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2012, 22, 2553.

  • Sulek, S., Mammadov, B., Mahcicek, D. I., Sozeri, H., Atalar, E., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., “Peptide Functionalized Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles as MRI Contrast Agents”, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2011, 21, 15157.

  • Acar, H., Garifullin, R., Guler, M. O., “Self-Assembled Template-Directed Synthesis of One-Dimensional Silica and Titania Nanostructures”, Langmuir, 2011, 27, 1079.

  • Dagdas, Y. S., Tombuloglu, A., Tekinay, A. B., Dana, A., Guler, M. O., “Interfiber Interactions Alter Stiffness of Gels Formed by Supramolecular Self-Assembled Nanofibers”, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 3524.

  • Toksoz, S., Mammadov, R., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., “Electrostatic Effects on Nanofiber Formation of Self-Assembling Peptide Amphiphiles”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2011, 356, 131.

 

Biomimetic and Bioinspired Materials

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Nature is an inspiration source for developing new biocompatible, biodegradable and biofunctional materials. Biomimetic materials research studies in our laboratory include design, synthesis, and characterization of new materials for controlled cellular interactions. Designing bioinspired self-assembled peptide molecules is an interesting way to generate new forms of hierarchical nanostructures. Amyloid inspired self-assembled peptide networks with outstanding mechanical strength, mussel adhesion inspired biointerfaces for metal implant functionalization, supramolecular amphiphilic glycopeptide nanosystems cellular differentiation, and novel bioactive peptide/polymer hybrid supramolecular networks for tissue engineering are some of the examples of our research in biomimetic materials.

Selected Publications:

  • Kocabey, S., Ceylan, H., Tekinay, A.B., Guler, M. O., “Glycosaminoglycan Mimetic Peptide Nanofibers Promote Mineralization by Osteogenic Cells”, Acta Biomaterialia, 2013, 9, 9075.

  • Garifullin, R., Ustahuseyin, O., Celebioglu, A., Cinar, G., Uyar, T., Guler, M.O., “Noncovalent Functionalization of Nanofibrous Network with Bio-inspired Heavy Metal Binding Peptide” RSC Advances, 2013, 3, 24215.

  • Ceylan, H., Urel, M., Erkal, T.S., Tekinay, A.B., Dana, A., Guler, M. O., “Mussel-Inspired Dynamic Crosslinking of Self-Healing Peptide Nanofiber Network”, Advanced Functional Materials, 2013, 23, 2081.

  • Cinar, G., Ceylan, H., Urel, M., Erkal, T.S., Tekin, E.D., Tekinay, A.B., Dana, A., Guler, M. O., “Amyloid Inspired Self-Assembled Peptide Nanofibers”, Biomacromolecules, 2012, 13, 3377.

  • Mammadov, R., Mammadov, B., Guler, M. O., Tekinay, A. B., “Growth Factor Binding on Heparin Mimetic Peptide Nanofibers”, Biomacromolecules, 2012, 13, 3311.

  • Ceylan, H., Kocabey, S., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., “Surface-Adhesive and Osteogenic Self-Assembled Peptide Nanofibers for Bioinspired Functionalization of Titanium Surfaces”, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 3929.

 

Drug and Gene Delivery

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Developing smart drug delivery systems is important for targeted therapeutic applications for healthcare products and nanomedicine. We study specific targeting and cellular internalization strategies via self-assembled nanostructures, and deliver various therapeutics such us oligonucleotides, chemotherapeutics, small molecules, drugs and growth factors. In our studies, liposomes have been used as an effective nanocarrier, which provide solubility; higher stability and slower release of drugs compared to traditional drug administration; positively charged peptide nanostructures are versatile delivery systems for therapeutic oligonucleotides; and peptide-based networks are used for controlled release of therapeutic molecules.

Selected Publications

  • Sardan, M., Kilinc, M., Genc, R., Tekinay, A.B., Guler, M. O., “Cell Penetrating Peptide Amphiphile Integrated Liposomal Systems for Enhanced Delivery of Anticancer Drugs to Tumor Cells”, Faraday Discussions, 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3FD00058C.

  • Bulut, S., Erkal, T. S., Toksoz, S., Tekinay, A. B., Tekinay, T., Guler, M. O., “Slow Release and Delivery of Antisense Oligonucleotide Drug by Self-Assembled Peptide Amphiphile Nanofibers”, Biomacromolecules, 2011, 12, 3007.

 

Biophysics

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Understanding supramolecular architecture of peptide nanostructures, proteins and other cellular components is of vital importance in life sciences research and may facilitate better understanding of structure-function relations in biological systems. Our studies include experience in physics, chemistry, biomechanics, mathematics and biology to understand function, mechanism and kinetics of biological processes. For example, characterization of self-assembled peptide nanostructures requires novel microscopy techniques to visualize the nanostructures and reveal possible interactions. Nanomechanical characterization of self-assembled peptide nanostructures, investigation of cellular and tissue biomechanics by using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and probe microscopy, label-free imaging and chemical fingerprinting with Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) are studied in our laboratory.

Selected Publications:

  • Ayas, S., Cinar, G., Ozkan, A.D., Soran, Z., Ekiz, O.O., Kocaay, D., Tomak, A., Toren, P., Kaya, Y., Tunc, I., Zareie, H., Tekinay, T., Tekinay, A.B., Guler, M.O., Dana, A., Label-Free Nanometer-Resolution Imaging of Biological Architectures through Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering, Scientific Reports, 2013, 3, 2624.

  • Mammadov, R., Tekinay, A. B., Dana, A., Guler, M. O., “Microscopic Characterization of Peptide Nanostructures”, Micron, 2012, 43, 69. (invited review)

  • Dagdas, Y. S., Aslan, M. N., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., Dana, A., “Nanomechanical characterization by double-pass force–distance mapping”, Nanotechnology, 2011, 22, 295704.

  • Dagdas, Y. S., Tombuloglu, A., Tekinay, A. B., Dana, A., Guler, M. O., “Interfiber Interactions Alter Stiffness of Gels Formed by Supramolecular Self-Assembled Nanofibers”, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 3524.

  • Toksoz, S., Mammadov, R., Tekinay, A. B., Guler, M. O., “Electrostatic Effects on Nanofiber Formation of Self-Assembling Peptide Amphiphiles”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2011, 356, 131.

 

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