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Wearable flexible microfluidic sensors may enable health monitoring and disease diagnosis at the point of care. This Review discusses the integration of flexible microfluidics with wearable biosensors for the detection of clinically relevant analytes in biofluids.
Silk protein can be applied as an edible food coating to extend the shelf life of food products by slowing dehydration and reducing oxidative stresses. Here, we highlight the commercialization of Mori Silk, from lab discovery and first proof of concept to manufacturing, scale-up, field validation, regulatory approval and forward-looking challenges.
The potential of tissue engineering to deliver clinical advances hinges on a connected ecosystem that includes academics, funding agencies, entrepreneurs, investors, the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory bodies. Open dialog on goals and risks across these stakeholders is key to implementing bioengineered tissue models in drug development and tissue therapies.
Academic researchers interested in the commercialization of regenerative-medicine therapies stand to benefit from an understanding of the overall commercialization process. This Review covers, with specific examples, the salient commercialization aspects of protecting intellectual property, navigating regulatory pathways and obtaining funding.
Radiotheranostics combines disease-specific molecular imaging and radionuclide therapy. We present new and promising targets, tracers and isotopes for radiotheranostics and outline the road to clinical translation of the 177Lu–LNC1004 radiopharmaceutical, which has recently been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a phase I clinical trial.
Photosynthetic electron transport chains convert solar energy into chemical energy. In this Review, engineering efforts to rewire these electron transport pathways for electricity and chemical production are discussed, highlighting major advances alongside outstanding research problems for achieving real-world applications.
An article in Nature Communications reports a metamaterial-based textile that can be worn as clothing to enable direct implant-to-implant wireless networking at the scale of the human body.
Human-based in vitro models, such as organoids and organs-on-chips, may have the potential to replace certain animal models in preclinical research. But how much ‘human’ is needed in these models?
An article in Nature reports a multidimensional question-answering clinical benchmark, evaluating the clinical knowledge of fine-tuned variants of PaLM, a 540-billion parameter, densely activated large language model.
Skin-interfaced wireless biosensors offer great opportunities for inexpensive, burdenless and continuous health monitoring of perinatal and paediatric patients in clinical and home settings. This Review highlights the latest technology developments and deployment activity in this rapidly expanding field.
Mathematical modelling provides a means of understanding cancer evolution and optimizing cancer treatment response. This Review outlines different computational methods of modelling cancer treatment response and identifying optimal treatment strategies.
The advent of portable, low-field MRI is transforming clinical brain imaging. This Review discusses the bioengineering advances that have enabled scanning outside the controlled environment of conventional MRI suites, enhancing access to neuroimaging. Ongoing development and innovation will increase the real-world application of MRI.
Leveraging the underlying mechanism of phase-separating biomolecular condensates could prove a great asset for developing designer condensates in bioengineering applications.
Heterogeneity constitutes a critical barrier to treating cancer. This Review discusses the biological and physical sources of heterogeneity across length scales, encompassing tumour-cell-intrinsic, tissue-microenvironment and organism-level sources, and how engineering strategies can improve our understanding of these phenomena.
An article in Science Advances reports a minimally invasive approach for continuous glucose monitoring using biodegradable microneedles connected to a smartphone app for diabetes tracking.
Combining the benefits of nanoparticle carriers and prodrugs can improve drug delivery efficiency. This Review discusses the design of lipid–prodrug nanomedicines with self-assembly properties for modulating drug release, reducing drug metabolism, and improving the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution for the treatment of severe diseases.
