Development of Functional Nanocarbon- and Polypeptide-Based Materials for Biomedical Applications

This body of work involves the preparation, structural characterization, and application-driven evaluation of biomaterials comprised of nanocarbon (graphene-derived) and synthetic polypeptide building blocks. The overarching goal of this work is to create graphenic and polypeptide-based biomaterials that are specifically designed to interact with the biological environment through chemical and physical pathways in order to provoke a therapeutic response – for example, to support a natural healing process, to direct the repair of a damaged tissue, or to treat a chemical imbalance in the body. Part 1 of this thesis explores the synthesis of functional graphenic materials (FGMs) with tunable surface chemistry and evaluates their use as scaffolds for mammalian cell regeneration (Chapter 2), bacterio-adhesive or repulsive surfaces (Chapter 3), and antibiofilm coatings (Chapter 3). Part 2 of this thesis contains work regarding the synthesis of polypeptides with sequence-driven, biologically relevant functionality by the ring-opening polymerization of -amino acid N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) and N-thiocarboxyanhydride (NTA) monomers. In doing so, Part 2 addresses two areas of interest within the field of biomaterial science: 1) investigation of new biomedical applications of polypeptides (Chapter 6), and 2) development of new synthetic routes to access functional polypeptides with architectural control (Chapters 7 and 8). The work described in this thesis is framed in the context of how these macromolecular systems can be leveraged to interact with the biological environment and serve a therapeutic function.