# Leveraging viscosity to unlock the osteogenic potential of BMP-2 mimetic DWIVA
**Source**: https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/374897/
**Parent**: https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/303613.html
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# Leveraging viscosity to unlock the osteogenic potential of BMP-2 mimetic DWIVA
[Cunniffe, Finlay](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/68098.html), [Luo, Ziyuan](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/73466.html), [Barcelona-Estaje, Eva](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/44122.html), Forrest, Eva, [Salmeron-Sanchez, Manuel](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/30067.html) [ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8112-2100](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8112-2100) and [Cantini, Marco](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/30437.html) [ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0326-1508](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0326-1508)
(2025)
Leveraging viscosity to unlock the osteogenic potential of BMP-2 mimetic DWIVA.
*[Small](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Small.html)*,
(doi: [10.1002/smll.202508366](https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202508366))
(PMID:[41469973](https://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/41469973))
(Early Online Publication)
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| | [Text](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/374897/2/374897.pdf) 374897.pdf - Published Version Available under License [Creative Commons Attribution](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 5MB |
## Abstract
Growth factor mimetics offer great potential for osteogenic biomaterials; yet, their use remains limited, likely due to an incomplete understanding of the effects of the microenvironment on their activity. The extracellular matrices (ECMs) where growth factors are presented in vivo are viscoelastic environments, where dynamic receptor-ligand interactions drive cellular responses. Here, supported lipid bilayers of varying viscosity are used as 2D dynamic ECM models, where the bone morphogenetic 2 (BMP-2) mimetic DWIVA is presented to mesenchymal stem cells alongside the adhesive peptide RGD. DWIVA is demonstrated to have no impact on mechanotransductive processes, including actin organisation, focal adhesion formation and YAP localisation, which are exclusively controlled by viscosity via RGD. Interestingly, DWIVA promotes osteogenic markers’ expression only on a viscous bilayer, through a process that involves non-canonical BMP-2 pathways; on a mobile bilayer or on a static control, it lacks osteogenic activity. Crucially, osteogenesis is accompanied by a translocation of BMP receptor 1a to the cell edge, where it colocalises with focal adhesions. Our ECM models hence reveal that both a viscosity-enabled threshold of cell-generated forces and a dynamic environment are necessary to harness the osteogenic potential of DWIVA, uncovering key microenvironment properties for the design of DWIVA-based biomaterials.
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| Item Type: | Articles |
| Additional Information: | MC acknowledges support from The Medical Research Council (MR/S005412/1), The Royal Society (RGS/R1/231400), and The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (RIG013300). M.S-S is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 874889 - HEALIKICK), European Research Council AdG (101054728) and EPSRC through the Transformative Healthcare Technologies Programme Grant ‘Mechanomeds’ (EP/X033554/1). IBEC is a recipient of a Severo Ochoa Award of Excellence from MINCIN and member of CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya. |
| Keywords: | Viscosity, BMP-2, DWIVA, mesenchymal stem cell, osteogenesis. |
| Status: | Early Online Publication |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | [Cantini, Dr Marco](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/30437.html) and [Barcelona Estaje, Eva](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/44122.html) and [Cunniffe, Finlay](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/68098.html) and [Salmeron-Sanchez, Professor Manuel](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/30067.html) and [Luo, Ziyuan](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/73466.html) |
| Authors: | [Cunniffe, F.](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/68098.html), [Luo, Z.](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/73466.html), [Barcelona-Estaje, E.](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/44122.html), Forrest, E., [Salmeron-Sanchez, M.](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/30067.html), and [Cantini, M.](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/30437.html) |
| College/School: | [College of Science and Engineering](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/divisions/30000000/) > [School of Engineering](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/divisions/30300000/) > [Biomedical Engineering](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/divisions/30303000/) |
| Journal Name: | [Small](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Small.html) |
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| ISSN: | 1613-6810 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1613-6829 |
| Published Online: | 30 December 2025 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2025 The Author(s) |
| First Published: | First published in Small 2025 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons license |
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Funder and Project Information
[Funder and Project Information](#)
[Funder and Project Information](#)
Project Code
Award No
Project Name
Principal Investigator
Funder's Name
Funder Ref
Lead Dept
[303613](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/303613.html)
Engineered microenvironments to harvest stem cell response to viscosity for cartilage repair
Marco Cantini
[Medical Research Council (MRC)](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/funder/Medical_Research_Council_=28MRC=29.html)
MR/S005412/1
ENG - Biomedical Engineering
[320080](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/320080.html)
Harnessing viscoelasticity for regenerative medicine
Marco Cantini
[The Royal Society (ROYSOC)](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/funder/The_Royal_Society_=28ROYSOC=29.html)
RGS/R1/231400
ENG - Biomedical Engineering
[324055](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/324055.html)
Viscoelastic regulation of growth factor activity
Marco Cantini
[The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (CARNEGTR)](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/funder/The_Carnegie_Trust_for_the_Universities_of_Scotland_=28CARNEGTR=29.html)
RIG013300
ENG - Biomedical Engineering
[307621](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/307621.html)
HEALIKICK
Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez
[European Commission (EC)](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/funder/European_Commission_=28EC=29.html)
874889
School of Molecular Biosciences
[315918](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/315918.html)
DEVISE - Engineered viscoelasticity in regenerative microenvironments
Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez
[EPSRC EU Guarantee (EPSRCEU)](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/funder/EPSRC_EU_Guarantee_=28EPSRCEU=29.html)
101054728
ENG - Biomedical Engineering
[318950](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/project_code/318950.html)
Mechanobiology-based medicine - Phase 2
Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez
[Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/funder/Engineering_and_Physical_Sciences_Research_Council_=28EPSRC=29.html)
EP/X033554/1
ENG - Biomedical Engineering
Deposit and Record Details
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[Deposit and Record Details](#)
| | |
| --- | --- |
| ID Code: | 374897 |
| Depositing User: | [Mr Alastair Arthur](https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/profile/29814) |
| Datestamp: | 19 Dec 2025 15:26 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Jan 2026 10:28 |
| Date of acceptance: | 19 December 2025 |
| Date of first online publication: | 30 December 2025 |
| Date Deposited: | 19 December 2025 |
| Data Availability Statement: | No |
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