Tough, Thermoreversible Hydrogels from the Arrested Phase Separation of Elastin-Like Polypeptides: Simple, Injectable, Biocompatible Substrates for the Engineering of Load-Bearing Tissues

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) form hydrogels upon heating. The polypeptides can comprise the generic sequence (XPAVG)n (SEQ ID NO: 4), wherein independently for each occurrence X can be any one of a number of different natural or unnatural amino acids, and n is chosen to determine the size of the protein. Hydrogels comprising the polypeptides have mechanical properties, including elastic modulus and fracture toughness, required for load-bearing applications.