Federal Grant Award Summary

Lehigh University received a $616,375 Project Grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286), awarded April 14, 2026, with a completion date of March 31, 2029. The project focuses on developing protease-responsive hydrogels that create cell-specific microenvironments within engineered tissue matrices. The research addresses a critical gap in tissue engineering by enabling the fabrication of scaffolds that accommodate the diverse and often conflicting matrix property requirements of different cell types—particularly addressing how endothelial cells require soft matrices for vascularization while osteogenic cells require stiffer, more highly crosslinked matrices for differentiation.

The deliverables include the development and validation of novel peptide-based hydrogel crosslinkers that respond to cell-type-specific protease activity to generate tailored microenvironments around individual cells. Using split-and-pool peptide synthesis techniques, the research team will generate over 300 protease-substrate peptide variants optimized for specific degradation rates and spatiotemporal kinetics. The project will produce engineered biomaterials with enhanced biological performance compared to existing crosslinking peptides, advancing the capability to build physiologically relevant in vitro tissue models for both research applications and regenerative medicine therapies.