Softening biomaterials with programmed and on-demand degradation. (A) Biomaterials sensitive to water undergo near-uniform and slow gradation, whereas those sensitive cell-secreted enzymes respond on a cell-mediated timeframe. Photoresponsive biomaterials enable spatiotemporally dictated material softening. (B) Degradable moieties commonly used to control biomaterial mechanicals. (C) Softening biomaterials can govern intestinal organoid generation. (D) Mechanical memory of stem cell can be discovered by using photo-induced softening biomaterials. (Panel C was created from data in Gjorevski et al. (2016). Panel D was created using a figure in Eyckmans and Chen 2014, with permission, from Springer Nature combined with data in Yang et al. 2014.)
