06/02/2026
By Michael Brown

The Kennedy College of Sciences, Department of Chemistry, invites you to attend a Master’s thesis defense by Stephanie Ceballos on “Design and Characterization of Intrinsically Disordered Peptides within GelMA - Gold Nanoparticle Scaffolds.”


Candidate Name: Stephanie Ceballos
Date: Monday, June 15, 2026
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Olney Hall, Room 518

Committee:

  • Advisor: Michael B. Ross, Ph.D., Chemistry Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • James Reuther, Ph.D., Chemistry Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Mathew Gage, Ph.D., Chemistry Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Brief Abstract:

Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels are biocompatible and non-toxic materials that have been studied and applied to countless areas in the biomedical field. Merging the fields of biomaterials and nanoscience increases opportunities to design and create materials with improved optical properties, conductivity, and reactivity. Within nanoscience, gold nanoparticles are interesting to study due to their tunable optical properties and biocompatibility. When integrating nanomaterials with biological molecules, intrinsically disordered peptides (IDPs) are excellent candidates because they are dynamic, undergo tunable self-assembly, and can exhibit pH-responsive behavior, as demonstrated by polyglutamate (polyE) in solution. By designing a GelMA hydrogel with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and polyE, a new material with the unique properties of its counterparts can be synthesized. In this study, swelling tests, mechanical tests, enzymatic degradation, cell viability tests, and pH studies were performed on AuNP-PolyE GelMA hydrogels. AuNP-PolyE GelMA hydrogels exhibited swelling ratios and tensile strength comparable to pure GelMA hydrogels, consistent with literature reports. AuNP-PolyE GelMA hydrogels displayed an accelerated degradation rate, high cell viability and proliferation, and their pH-responsive behavior differed from conjugated AuNP-PolyE in solution, showcasing their biocompatibility for biosensing, drug delivery, and wound healing applications.