READ ME This text describes the data presented in the paper: ======================== Introductory information ======================== Files included in the data deposit (include a short description of what data are contained): 1)Paper figures 2)Images of confocal, live/dead, TEM of hydrogel 3)Graphpad and excel files containing raw data, analysis, graphs and statistics of metabolic activity (Presto blue), DNA quantification (Picogreen), ALP activity, FTIR, rheology, gelation time, swelling, degradation tests, oxygen and glucose results Key words used to describe the data: metabolic activity (Presto blue), DNA quantification (Picogreen), ALP activity, FTIR, rheology, gelation time, swelling, degradation tests, SEM images, cell viability, TEM, confocal ========================== Methodological information ========================== A brief method description – what the data is, how and why it was collected or created, and how it was processed: Instruments, hardware and software used: GraphPad PrismTM 6 software, Nikon A1R inverted confocal microscope, FLUOstar OPTIMA microplate reader, Kinexus Rotational Rheometer (Malvern Instruments Ltd., UK), Stackable Shakers (ThermoScientific MaxQ6000), Philips CM100 Transmission EM, ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health, USA), PerkinElmer UATR-Two, SEM (Hitachi TM 3030) DNA quantification. Cellular viability was quantified by measuring the DNA content of cells seeded on the hydrogels using the Quanti-iTTM Picogreen® dsDNA assay kit. L3224 Live/Dead assay (Life Technologies, UK), in brief, 4 µM ethidium homodimer-1 and 10 µM calcein in PBS were incubated in the dark with the cell-seeded CAF samples for 30 min at 37 °C. Metabolic activity. Quantified by normalizing results from the PrestoBlueTM assay (Invitrogen, UK) to the corresponding DNA content measured with PicoGreenTM. Cellular morphology analysis. The morphology of the cells was observed by staining their cytoskeleton using rhodamine-phalloidin and the nucleus observed using DAPI. Statistical analysis was performed by two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni Post-hoc tests in GraphPad PrismTM 6 software PerkinElmer UATR-Two, equipped with diamond total reflectance (ATR) crystal and PerkinElmer Spectrum Software analyse the chemical composition of freeze-dried hydrogels in the range of 550-4000 cm-1 at a resolution of 4 cm-1 and 32 scans. Hydrogel samples were frozen in liquid nitrogen and freeze-dried using an ALPHA 1-2 LD plus freeze-dryer, at 0.060 mbar for 48 h. Hydrogels samples were fixed overnight in 2.5% glutaraldehyde at 4 °C. Then, samples were post-fixed treated with 0.5% OsO4. Images were obtained after samples were embedded in resin and sectioned. The gelation time was assessed using the “vial tilt” method. Vials (n=5) were filled with 1 mL of 0.5%, 1% and 2.5% CAF hydrogel and incubated at 37 °C. The equilibrium swelling of each hydrogel was calculated from: Swelling (%)=[(Ww-Wd)/Wd ]×100 (Eq. 1) Where, Ww and Wd were the weights of the hydrogels at the swelling state and dry state, respectively. All measurements were performed in triplicate. Hydrogel disks of 7 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness were incubated in 48 well-plates with 1 mL of low glucose Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) at 37 °C under agitation at 35 rpm using Stackable Shakers (ThermoScientific MaxQ6000). Enzymatic degradation was performed according to protocols developed for tissue dissociation [50] using Collagenase NBTM (SERVA Electrophoresis GmbH). Rheological characterization was performed using a Kinexus Rotational Rheometer (Malvern Instruments Ltd., UK) with 20 mm diameter serrated plates. A special solvent trap system was used to prevent dehydration of the sample during the tests. ========================= Data-specific information ========================= Definitions of names, labels, acronyms or specialist terminology uses for variables, records and their values: CAF: collagen, alginate, fibrinogen hydrogel elastic modulus (G'), viscous modulus (G'') and viscosity (?) DMEM (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium) Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) phosphate buffer saline (PBS) human TERT human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) - Y201 extracellular matrix (ECM) ======= Contact ======= Please contact rdm@ncl.ac.uk for further information