Stepping into the Next Dimension of Biomaterial Design

Recapitulating the dynamic spatiotemporal behavior of the extracellular matrix using biomaterials is an ongoing challenge. A recent breakthrough by Shadish et al. demonstrates the use of sortase-mediated transpeptidation to site-specifically modify proteins with a range of chemical motifs. Modified proteins were immobilized within biomaterials with high spatiotemporal control and resulted in localized bioactivity.