All enzyme hydrogels: revealing the mesoscale structure of functional biomaterials

All enzyme hydrogels are an emerging class of biomaterial with tuneable structural and mechanical properties, high biocompatibility and inherent biological functionality. To exploit their potential as smart biomaterials we are creating hydrogels of chemically cross-linked glucose oxidase (GluOx). This enzyme catalyses the chemical reaction of its substrate, glucose, to glucono-δ-lactone and hydrogen peroxide. GluOx is a non-covalently bound homodimer in its functional state and is attracting growing interest as a functional building block in applications focused on continuous glucose monitoring for diabetic patients. Our aim is to determine the size and shape of GluOx in the pre-gel solution, including the presence of dimers and to monitor the time-dependent network relaxation of GluOx cross-linked hydrogels. The SANS2D instrument will provide access to high-resolution data over multiple length scales. High Q data will reveal the extent of enzyme dissociation induced by gelation forces leading to inactivation, and the enhanced minimum Q value data will reveal the hydrogel architecture which defines substrate and product diffusion.
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