Comment in 2023

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  • Antimicrobial peptides have the potential to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance; however, their clinical translation remains challenging. Here, we discuss molecular farming as a sustainable approach to antimicrobial peptide production, outlining different platforms to produce antimicrobial peptides using plants and viral vectors.

    • Shahid Chaudhary
    • Magdy M. Mahfouz
    Comment
  • In addition to systemic inequity, the lack of adequate parental leave conditions at many US institutions can negatively affect career trajectories for women in STEM. Support structures are needed at the institutional, departmental and funding agency level to promote the success of pregnant women and parents with childcare responsibilities in academia.

    • Natalie Boehnke
    • Liangliang Hao
    Comment
  • Social connections are an important means for people to cope with adversity and illness. Thus, technologies, such as social network analysis, that can leverage close, face-to-face social networks could help optimize healthcare interventions and reduce healthcare-related costs, particularly in low-resource settings.

    • Shivkumar Vishnempet Shridhar
    • Nicholas A. Christakis
    Comment
  • The scientific narrative around food biotechnologies, such as genetically modified crops, is ineffective at predicting their role in the development and change of agricultural practices and food. Here, we suggest placing the scientific discussion of new food technologies in the context of the political and economic forces that shape agriculture.

    • Klara Fischer
    • Joeva Sean Rock
    Comment
  • To address inappropriate behaviour in the scientific community and nurture a culture of accountability, individuals must be empowered to speak up. Guidance on preventing and handling inappropriate behaviour at conferences, using case studies and checklists, to build a community that thrives on respect and inclusivity is presented.

    • Assaf Zinger
    Comment
  • The US Food and Drug Administration’s internal database of 510(k)-cleared medical devices was searched for additively manufactured devices cleared between 2010 and 2020. The information and analysis provided will assist the medical device community to further understand the application of additive manufacturing to regulated devices.

    • Magdalene Fogarasi
    • Kirstie L. Snodderly
    • Matthew A. Di Prima
    Comment
  • 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.

    • Annie Moisan
    • David Kolesky
    • Kimberly Homan
    Comment
  • 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.

    • Jingjing Zhang
    • Tianzhi Zhao
    • Xiaoyuan Chen
    Comment
  • The UNANO consortium consists of laboratories from eight European research universities that explore biomolecules as building blocks for the assembly of nanostructures and nanomachines. UNANO aims at uniting bionanotechnology researchers across Europe and transcending disciplinary boundaries to synergize research impact and explore applications of bionanotechnology.

    • Jonathan G. Heddle
    • Katherine E. Dunn
    Comment
  • Healthcare hackathons can bring patient-users, problem-solvers and external stakeholders together to formulate individual patient-user problems and find innovative solutions. Lessons can be learned from open innovation research to organize hackathons that ultimately lead to the design of new patient-specific products.

    • Chan Hyung Park
    • Georg von Krogh
    • Yash Raj Shrestha
    Comment
  • Stem cell therapies are being explored for the treatment of various diseases, and stem cell-derived exosomes may provide similar clinical benefits without the biosafety concerns. However, large-scale manufacturing and analysis of the complex cargos of exosomes will need to be addressed to enable their clinical translation.

    • Kaiyue Zhang
    • Ke Cheng
    Comment
  • Adoptive immunotherapy, particularly chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells, has had considerable success in treating haematological malignancies. However, the variability, time commitment and cost of engineering cells limit their application. Human pluripotent stem (hPS) cells could provide an off-the-shelf, cheaper and scalable solution.

    • Yun Chang
    • Qing Deng
    • Xiaoping Bao
    Comment
  • Scientific bias originates from both researchers and techniques. Evidence-based strategies to mitigate this bias include the assembly of diverse teams, development of rigorous experimental designs, and use of unbiased analytical techniques. Here, we highlight potential starting points to decrease bias in bioengineering research.

    • Christopher M. Jewell
    • Miloš D. Miljković
    • Robert S. Oakes
    Comment
  • The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a key component of the stem-cell niche, and undergoes profound changes during ageing, affecting tissue mechanics and structure. Here, we argue that ECM alterations can be leveraged to engineer biomaterials to investigate age-mediated tissue dysfunction, and to design therapeutic strategies for age-related diseases.

    • Rahel Schnellmann
    • Sharon Gerecht
    Comment
  • Pancreatic islet transplantation stands to enable patients with type 1 diabetes to become insulin-independent. However, the number of islets required to achieve insulin independence is not yet well-defined and depends on the transplantation approach. Here, we contextualize a ‘rule of thumb’ estimate of the islet quantities required for transplantation, and discuss the estimate’s practical implications.

    • Stephanie Owyang
    • Patricia Jastrzebska-Perfect
    • Giovanni Traverso
    Comment
  • Ageing and cancer development are tightly interwoven processes. Here, we discuss preventing cancer by reducing or reverting epigenetic age. We provide an outline for how this can be achieved by targeting the mechanisms that drive DNA methylation clocks.

    • Marc Winnefeld
    • Frank Lyko
    Comment
  • Bidirectional neuromorphic brain interfaces, based on interconnecting brain networks with artificial spiking neural networks, aim to optimize neural prostheses to help people with paralysis to regain autonomy. Their emergence questions the concept of human subjectivation, the continuous process by which we become and remain the subject of our life.

    • Blaise Yvert
    • Eric Fourneret
    Comment
  • Micro- and nanorobots hold great potential to overcome brain barriers for the treatment of brain diseases. They can be delivered to the brain by local injection, intranasal application, or systemic administration. Combining active propulsion with biological and chemical approaches or external physical stimuli can improve brain targeting.

    • Jounghyun Yoo
    • Songsong Tang
    • Wei Gao
    Comment
  • In a multilinguistic science learning environment, science educators should rely on effective pedagogies to teach students with different mother languages and socio-cultural backgrounds. Institutes that invest in bias awareness training for students and instructors will help to create an inclusive learning environment. This can be achieved by opening science classrooms to social science researchers who can inform the development of a signature pedagogy of science.

    • Hagar I. Labouta
    Comment