Reviews & Analysis

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell activities can be remotely controlled to provide spatiotemporal precision of CAR T cell activity and improve the safety of cellular immunotherapies. This Review discusses physical and chemogenetic stimuli and the combination of stimuli-responsive nanotechnologies with immuno-engineering to design controllable CAR T cell therapies.

Physical properties affect immune signalling and effector functions in distinct immune cell subtypes. This Review discusses the impact of engineering nanomaterial physical characteristics on modulating immune responses and thus promoting efficient and effective cancer immunotherapy.

Plant-based recombinant protein production has the power to ensure rapid and global-scale deployment of biopharmaceuticals. This Review discusses genetic tools and systems for the plant-based production and engineering of biopharmaceuticals, including vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.

Organoids recapitulate many aspects of native tissues and even display tissue and organ-level functionality, although with limited control over morphogenesis. This Review describes an emerging framework, termed middle-out tissue engineering, that facilitates spatiotemporal control of tissue-specific cell niches to enable deterministic organoid self-organization and build more advanced in vitro tissue models.

Therapeutic nanoparticle and biomaterial systems can be specifically designed to deliver drugs for the treatment of women’s health-related conditions. This Review discusses the engineering and optimization of delivery technologies for women’s health applications, including vaginal infections, reproductive tract disorders, pregnancy conditions and congenital disorders.

Bioreactors enable the cultivation of mammalian cells in a closely monitored and controlled microenvironment. This Review discusses bioreactor technologies and closed-loop set-ups for producing patient-specific engineered-tissue grafts, including skin, small-diameter arteries and musculoskeletal tissues, with a particular focus on commercialization and regulatory considerations.

Electrochemical biosensors can be integrated into wearable, portable and implantable devices for health monitoring and disease diagnosis. This Review discusses the design and integration of different types of electrochemical biosensors for the detection of analytes related to health and disease, and outlines engineering challenges that need to be addressed to enable clinical translation of electrochemical biosensor-based point-of-care devices.

Current methods for the genetic manipulation of plants have low throughput and are amenable to a limited range of species. This Review discusses advances in the development of nanotechnology tools and the understanding of structure–function relationships to overcome these issues.

Cytokines are key regulators of the immune system and can be recombinantly designed as therapeutics for immune-related disorders. However, the severe toxicity of recombinant cytokines limits their clinical translation. In this Review, the authors highlight bioengineering approaches for the design of clinically applicable and safe cytokine-based therapeutics.

Developing point-of-care devices for the detection of pathogenic bacteria is essential to prevent and treat infections and to provide food security. This Review highlights paper-based analytical devices with substantial point-of-care applicability for bacteria detection and discusses challenges and opportunities for future development.

The performance of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cell products after adoptive transfers is influenced by the phenotype of the CAR T cells at time of transfer. Here, the authors review strategies to modulate these phenotypes during CAR T cell manufacturing to improve their antitumour performance.

Tissues of the central nervous system (CNS) can be functionally modelled using cell biology-based and engineering-based strategies to allow the study of CNS mechanisms, function and pathology in vitro. This Review discusses the design of bioengineered CNS models, highlighting how customizable tissues can enable a mechanistic deconvolution of complex CNS functions.

Micro- and nanorobots hold great promise for next-generation water-remediation applications. This Review discusses the development of intelligent micro- and nanoscale systems for the removal and degradation of water contaminants and the challenges toward their practical application.

Fluorescence imaging-guided surgery enables tumour resection with high precision, while preventing injury of healthy tissues. This Review discusses the clinical application and preclinical development of intraoperative fluorescence imaging probes and imaging equipment, including artificial intelligence algorithms.

Oral drug delivery is a commonly used strategy to deliver therapeutics. However, the harsh environment in the digestive tract prevents the oral administration of many drugs and can negatively affect drug efficacy. This Review discusses how biological materials and living microorganisms can be designed into bioinspired oral delivery devices that can overcome many of the challenges associated with oral delivery.

Photothermal modulation is a non-genetic approach for remote neural modulation with high spatiotemporal resolution and specificity. This Review summarizes the fundamental material properties and experimental conditions necessary for efficient nanomaterial-assisted photothermal excitation, inhibition and regulation of cellular signalling pathways.

This Review discusses biomaterials that promote therapeutic targeting of immune cells by modulating the dosage, timing and location of stimulation, thereby improving the safety and efficacy of vaccines and immunotherapies.

Chiral inorganic nanomaterials can induce specific physical, chemical and biological phenomena. This Review discusses how chiral biomolecules and polarized light allow nanoscale chirality control in inorganic nanomaterials, which can be applied in optical devices, sensing, catalysis and biomedicine.

Three-dimensional nanotopography plays a key role in the interaction of nanoscale drug delivery systems and biological components. This Review discusses bioinspired nanotopographies that can improve muco-adhesion and cyto-adhesion, drug uptake and trafficking, barrier remodelling, cellular modulation and antimicrobial activities of various drug delivery platforms.

The tumour microenvironment of solid tumours can prevent immune cell infiltration and negatively affect the efficacy of immunotherapies. This Review discusses the design of biomaterials-based tools that can modulate the physicochemical features of the tumour microenvironment to assist immunotherapies.