Self‐Assembled Amino Acid Microstructures as Biocompatible Physically Unclonable Functions (BPUFs) for Authentication of Therapeutically Relevant Hydrogels

Abstract

Counterfeited biomedical products result in significant economic losses and pose a public health hazard for over a million people yearly. Hydrogels, a class of biomedical products, are being investigated as alternatives to conventional biomedical products and are equally susceptible to counterfeiting. Here, a biocompatible, physically unclonable function (BPUF) to verify the authenticity of therapeutically relevant hydrogels are developed. The principle of BPUF relies on the self‐assembly of tyrosine into fibril‐like structures which are incorporated into therapeutically relevant hydrogels resulting in their random dispersion. This unclonable arrangement leads to distinctive optical micrographs captured using an optical microscope. These optical micrographs are transformed into a unique security code through cryptographic techniques which are then used to authenticate the hydrogel. The temporal stability of the BPUFs are demonstrated and additionally, exploit the dissolution propensity of the structures upon exposure to an adulterant to identify the tampering of the hydrogel. Finally, a platform to demonstrate the translational potential of this technology in validating and detecting tampering of therapeutically relevant hydrogels is developed. The potential of BPUFs to combat hydrogel counterfeiting is exemplified by its simplicity in production, ease of use, biocompatibility, and cost‐effectiveness.

Unleashing Ultrahigh Capacity and Lasting Stability: Aqueous Zinc‐Sulfur Batteries

“…Further, Figure 5e, suggested that without iodine Zn 2+ primary solvation shell is ≈ 2.5 Å, and the peak of Zn‐(EG) pair, Zn‐H 2 O and Zn‐ (OAc) 2 located at 2.2, 2.024, and 2.1 Å respectively, indicating the participation of EG, H 2 O and Zn‐ (OAc) 2 in the Zn 2+ solvation structure. [ 65 ] Further, to prove the role of iodine for Zn─S battery kinetically, we have performed MD stimulations, where Figure S26a, (Supporting Information) showed snapshots of the solvation structure of zinc ion in Zn(OAc) 2 ‐I 2 electrolyte after 100 ns simulation. It can be seen from (Figure S26b–e, Supporting Information) that RDF and CN was not significantly affected in the absence of iodine, showing iodine has not taken part in the solvation structure of Zn 2+ in comparison with EG, as shown in Figure 5.…”

Bioinspired Amino Acid Based Materials in Bionanotechnology: From Minimalistic Building Blocks and Assembly Mechanism to Applications

“…This phenomenon indicates that the self-assembled morphology of amino acids is closely related to the assembly environment. Previous studies have shown that amino acids with aromatic groups are more likely to self-assemble into fiber structures. − l -Phe, the smallest molecule to form a gel network in water, was reported by Ramalhete et al and is of particular interest due to its crystalline gel state . Bera et al.…”