Development of functional soft-tissue engineered constructs for use in regenerative medicine is currently limited by homogeneity within scaffolds that fails to recapitulate the complex architecture that supports normal function in healthy tissues. Additionally, recent breakthroughs in our understanding the biomechanical cell-matrix interface have provided insight into the role of substrate compliance during development and in the pathophysiological environment. This thesis is the result of investigation into using type-I collagen as a base material for creating dynamic, self-assembling, mechanically and biochemically tunable 3D hydrogel scaffolds into which instructive cellular cues can be imparted anisotropically via the directed application of light.

This overarching goal was approached by (1) evaluating extant methods for photonically manipulating type I collagen mechanical properties, which led us to the conclusion that published methods were inadequate for our purposes. Following this realization, we (2) developed a novel process for derivatizing free amines on collagen amino acid residues to reactive methacrylamide moieties, allowing robust spatiotemporal control of mechanical properties through photocrosslinking with long-wave UV light and the water-soluble photoinitiator Irgacure 2959. Thorough characterization of this material, collagen methacrylamide (CMA), provided the basis for multiple applications in the field of soft tissue engineering. Additionally, (3) CMA was used in conjunction with synthetic photopolymers in an effort to create a hybrid natural/synthetic hydrogel material. CMA was also (4) employed as a dynamic hydrogel scaffold which we showed could be used to culture a number of neurogenic stem and progenitor cell types with a focus on using photomodulation to impart instructive heterogeneity to the mechanical and biochemical microenvironment. Finally, (5) we used a computational modeling approach to explain interesting yet poorly understood material phenomena exhibited by CMA observed during characterization. Using sequence and structure based models of an optimized triple helical segment of type-I collagen, we obtained valuable insight into the role of amino acid electrostatic interactions in CMA thermodynamic behavior as well as in the context of understanding the biophysical mechanisms of native type I collagen self-assembly and stability.