“…This mobile, nanostructural feature of the molecular necklace can be utilized for modulating receptor‐mediated cellular functions by facilitating the interactions of bioactive agent‐ or ligand‐conjugated α‐CDs in hydrogels with receptor sites of proteins on the plasma cell membranes (e.g., cell‐adhesion via integrin binding to ECM proteins) 19, 20, 28. α‐CD has primarily been employed as a nanoscale drug delivery vehicle24, 28, 29, 45 and as a crosslinking agent to create hydrogels for fibroblast culture,22, 32, 46 cartilage27, 33 and bone47, 48 tissue engineering. However, critical features such as the modular design, cytocompatibility,45 ease of modification,26 enhanced cell‐material interactions,19, 20, 28 and controlled presentation of biological ligands via user‐controlled dethreading,30–33 enable application of this powerful hydrogel tool for directed stem cell differentiation and tissue production as demonstrated in the present studies.…”