The cells and tissues that make up our body manage contradictory mechanical demands. It
is crucial for their survival to be able to withstand large mechanical loads, but it is equally …

The past decade has seen a decided move from static and passive biomaterials to
biodegradable, dynamic, and stimuli responsive materials in the laboratory and the clinic …

Nature uses discrete molecular building blocks to form polymers that assemble into
multicomponent, multi-dynamic networks, inside (cytoskeleton) and outside (extracellular …

The strain-stiffening and self-healing capabilities of biological tissues enable them to
preserve the structures and functions from deformation and damage. However …

Cells in the body reside within the extracellular matrix (ECM), a three-dimensional
environment that not only provides structural support for the cells, but also influences cellular …

Abstract Three-dimensional (3D) matrix models using hydrogels are powerful tools to
understand and predict cell behavior. The interactions between the cell and its matrix …

Injectable hydrogels with nonlinear mechanical attributes to emulate natural biopolymers
hold paramount significance in tissue engineering, offering the potential to create scaffolds …

The natural extracellular matrix (ECM) within tissues is physically contracted and remodeled
by cells, allowing the collective shaping of functional tissue architectures. Synthetic materials …

Strain-stiffening is one of the characteristic properties of biological hydrogels and
extracellular matrices, where the stiffness increases upon increased deformation. Whereas …

Natural materials are adaptive with intriguing mechanical properties such as strain‐
stiffening, high damping, and stimuli‐responsive actuation under ambient conditions, which …