Peptide-functionalized biomaterials with osteoinductive or anti-biofilm activity

Abstract

Peptides are short sequences of amino acids. Peptides with biological functionality can be derived from the active domain of proteins or determined from peptide screening experiments. Combined with modern chemical techniques to facilitate peptide synthesis, this leads to peptide modification as an interesting approach to render synthetic biomaterials bioactive. Peptides have been used to functionalize implant surfaces as well as bulk biomaterials, and they can be incorporated within controlled release systems. This chapter considers both osteoinductive peptides and anti-biofilm peptides with the goals to improve bone regeneration and reduce implant-associated infection, respectively.