Reviews & Analysis

The ability to detect precancer at the point of care is important to reduce global inequities in cancer outcomes. This Review outlines how low-cost optical imaging technologies, slide-free microscopy and machine learning can improve imaging performance and provide real-time interpretation in settings with limited resources.

Microneedle technologies for drug delivery and biosensing have progressed through the integration of material sciences, nanotechnologies and electronic devices. This Review discusses the development and clinical translation of microneedle biomedical devices.

Metabolic engineering allows the design of microorganisms for the bioproduction of specific metabolites, such as value-added chemicals. This Review discusses autonomous dynamic regulation approaches, including metabolite-specific transcriptional regulation and non-specific systems using environmental factors, quorum sensing and growth-phase regulation.

Controlling blood circulation, biodistribution and tissue accessibility of nanomedicines is key to their clinical translation. In this Review, bioengineering strategies to overcome gatekeeping barriers and promote the targeting, safety and efficacy of nanomedicines are discussed.

Regenerative tissue engineering aims to functionally restore damaged tissues. This Review discusses how advances in single-cell RNA sequencing techniques and analysis methods can expand our understanding of tissue injury responses to inform the design of new regenerative biomaterials and therapeutics.

Fluid protein condensates are utilized as precursors in the production of high-performance biological fibres, adhesives and composites. This Review outlines the key role of condensates in the formation of several well-studied biological materials and highlights bioengineered materials with biomedical applications that draw inspiration from these archetypes.

Vaccination and immune-regulation strategies are crucial for the prevention and treatment of respiratory infectious diseases. This Review discusses the design and optimization of nanomedicines for vaccines and immunotherapeutics for respiratory infectious diseases.

Microbial engineering can enable the development of cell factories that produce value-added chemicals from various feedstocks. This Review highlights recent efforts to engineer microorganisms for the utilization of various waste streams for sustainable bioproduction and presents state-of-the-art strategies that can accelerate the advancement towards a bio-based circular economy.

The human microbiome plays a central role in health and disease. This Review discusses the design of human organ-on-a-chip platforms to model host–microbiome interactions in vitro and investigate microbiome-associated diseases as well as microbiome-mediated interventions.

Diffusion models are deep-learning-based generative models that can generate new data from input parameters. This Review discusses applications of diffusion models in bioinformatics and computational biology.

Rehabilitation after ischaemic stroke can promote only limited recovery for many patients with stroke. This Review discusses how the distinctly reparative environment of the subacute time window after stroke can inform the design of biology-driven biomaterial-based stroke therapies.

Robotics technologies are finding their way into the food production chain, from agriculture robots ‘working’ on farms, to 3D food printers generating customized dishes in the kitchen. In this Viewpoint, two roboticists, Hod Lipson and Salah Sukkarieh, discuss the possible roles of robotics in shaping the future of food, highlighting how robots may be able to produce more, healthier and sustainable foods with fewer resources and a lower carbon footprint.

Bacteria-based living drugs can treat a broad range of diseases. This Review discusses challenges to the clinical translation of engineered bacterial therapeutics and how advances in synthetic biology and nanomedicine can help overcome them.

Cellular agriculture can be applied for the production of milk bioactives for infant nutrition to bring infant formula functionality closer to human milk. This Review discusses cell-based biotechnology approaches, applying microbial-based (precision fermentation) or cell culture-based methods, to produce functional and complex milk bioactives.

Gene editing may shape the future of foods, providing a sustainable solution for obtaining food products of high yield and nutritional value. This Review discusses the capabilities and applications of CRISPR–Cas-based gene editing of food, highlighting the technologies for improving the nutritional value of crops and animal and probiotic food products, and summarizing regulatory policies worldwide.

The emerging field of genetically targeted chemical assembly (GTCA) uses cell-specific genetic information to instruct chemical synthesis in situ. This Perspective discusses recent progress in GTCA and outlines opportunities for expanding the GTCA toolbox and diversifying applications.

Synthetic living materials are dynamic and responsive, actively interact with and integrate into biological systems, and predictably evolve. This Perspective discusses the engineering of synthetic living materials and their applications in cancer biology.

Advances in digitizing human tissue slides and progress in artificial intelligence have boosted progress in the field of computational pathology. This Review consolidates recent methodological advances and provides future perspectives as the field expands to take on a broader range of clinical and research tasks.

Flexible and stretchable materials and devices can be applied for the design of soft bioelectronics. This Review discusses soft electronic materials that can be engineered into implantable and wearable devices for the monitoring and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Microneedles are an effective tool for the collection of interstitial fluid in a minimally invasive manner. Coupling microneedles with biosensors would allow for deep tissue sensing and fast continuous monitoring. This Review discusses the capabilities of microneedles for analyte sampling and further analysis, the development of microneedle-based biosensors for disease and drug monitoring, and the clinical translation potential.