CAREER: Barcoded Hydrogels: A Multifunctional Platform for Biomaterials Discovery and Development

Non-technical description: Hydrogels are squishy, sponge-like materials with significant potential in medicine and environmental science. Hydrogels are used for wound healing, drug delivery in the body, and even to clean up pollution. Made from long chains of molecules called polymers, hydrogels hold large

amounts of water and change shape or function depending on their design. However, designing the most effective hydrogels for specific applications is a complex challenge. Traditional testing methods are slow and expensive, making it difficult for researchers to quickly and efficiently identify the best hydrogels. This prevents effective hydrogel materials from being developed for

many critical applications. This proposal aims to leverage two innovative techniques, barcoding and pooled screening, to accelerate the testing and development of hydrogels. The principal investigator proposes to barcode individual hydrogel materials with unique identifiers, like product barcodes in a store. These barcodes are chemical markers that can be used to track and distinguish

hydrogels. Instead of testing each hydrogel separately, barcoded hydrogels can be grouped, or pooled, together and exposed to the same test conditions, saving time and resources and lowering experimental variability. The barcodes make it possible to track the performance of each hydrogel individually. This proposed method will provide a way to test up to hundreds or thousands

of hydrogel designs in parallel, enabling rapid evaluation and comparison of hydrogel performance. This approach aims to speed up the discovery of improved, functional hydrogels for medical and environmental applications. This project will also give middle school students the opportunity to learn about hydrogels

through hands-on demos. The principal investigator also plans to introduce biomaterials into core college courses and create a new elective class to introduce students to exciting careers in the field of biomaterials. Technical description: Hydrogels are versatile biomaterials made of hydrated, cross-linked polymer networks

used in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and environmental applications. However, their complex design and vast parameter space make it challenging to identify generalizable design principles through traditional, low-throughput methods, slowing and preventing the development of functional hydrogel materials. High-throughput techniques like barcoding and pooled screening

can accelerate the discovery of structure-function relationships. While these types of approaches have not yet been applied to hydrogel-based biomaterials, there is significant potential to advance this field to the same extent. This CAREER proposal aims to leverage a molecular barcoding platform pioneered by the principal investigator for systematic evaluation of hydrogel parameters

in a pooled, combinatorial manner. This approach will enable the assessment of material properties such as degradation and cargo release and help establish generalizable design rules for diverse hydrogel systems. By utilizing cost-effective, commercially available barcoding reagents and mass spectrometry-based detection methods, the proposed approach offers a

standardized, high-throughput tool accessible to the hydrogel community. Additionally, it will streamline data harmonization and automate workflows. The research focuses on four main areas: (1) examining how polymer and linker designs affect hydrogel degradation, (2) studying the impact of biomolecule size and charge on release from hydrogel matrices, (3) developing and

characterizing hydrogel sorbents, and (4) automating screening workflows. This proposal also aims to promote diversity in STEM and expose students to biomaterials-related careers, particularly in the local medical device industry through a multi-tiered educational program that includes the integration of biomaterials course modules into core undergraduate courses,

development of an elective biomaterials course, and a STEM outreach program for middle school girls.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.