Self-Assembled Amino Acid Microstructures as Biocompatible Physically Unclonable Functions (BPUFs) for Authentication of Therapeutically Relevant Hydrogels |
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Authors: | Vishwas Akavaram Kush Kumar Shreya Sriram Saisrinath Narra Akshant Kumawat Santosh Kumar Meena Karthik Pushpavanam |
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Institution: | 1. Discipline of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382355 India;2. Chemical Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (N.C.L.), Dr. HomiBhabha Road, Pune, 411008 India;3. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 603110 India;4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar, Punjab, 140001 India |
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Abstract: | Counterfeited biomedical products result in significant economic losses and pose a public health hazard for over a million people yearly. Hydrogels, a class of biomedical products, are being investigated as alternatives to conventional biomedical products and are equally susceptible to counterfeiting. Here, a biocompatible, physically unclonable function (BPUF) to verify the authenticity of therapeutically relevant hydrogels are developed. The principle of BPUF relies on the self-assembly of tyrosine into fibril-like structures which are incorporated into therapeutically relevant hydrogels resulting in their random dispersion. This unclonable arrangement leads to distinctive optical micrographs captured using an optical microscope. These optical micrographs are transformed into a unique security code through cryptographic techniques which are then used to authenticate the hydrogel. The temporal stability of the BPUFs are demonstrated and additionally, exploit the dissolution propensity of the structures upon exposure to an adulterant to identify the tampering of the hydrogel. Finally, a platform to demonstrate the translational potential of this technology in validating and detecting tampering of therapeutically relevant hydrogels is developed. The potential of BPUFs to combat hydrogel counterfeiting is exemplified by its simplicity in production, ease of use, biocompatibility, and cost-effectiveness. |
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Keywords: | anti-counterfeiting hydrogels physically unclonable functions self-assembly translational |
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