Biomaterials articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advances in biofabrication technology enable 3D printed constructs to resemble real tissues, but it remains unclear how cell-generated forces deform these constructs. Here the authors investigate mechanical behaviours of 3D printed “microbeams” made from mixtures of living cells and extracellular matrix.

    • Cameron D. Morley
    • , S. Tori Ellison
    •  & Thomas E. Angelini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coral fossils can record climatic history, but teasing apart environmental signals remains a challenge. Here the authors show that crystallographic changes in coral skeletons grown under high CO2 conditions could be used as a sensitive pH proxy, enabling measurement of ocean acidification back in time.

    • Ismael Coronado
    • , Maoz Fine
    •  & Jarosław Stolarski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Proteins have been used in the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles but issues with aggregation limit this application. Here, the authors report on the synthesis of coiled proteins that display the active loop of the natural proteins to avoid aggregation and investigate the application in nanoparticle synthesis.

    • Andrea E. Rawlings
    • , Lori A. Somner
    •  & Sarah S. Staniland

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transparent materials with high strength and hardness coupled with low crack tolerance remain challenging to manufacture. Here, the authors develop a process to fabricate transparent but tough glass composites with a nacre-like architecture that slows crack propagation.

    • Tommaso Magrini
    • , Florian Bouville
    •  & André R. Studart

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacteria assemble the surface layer (S-layer), a crystalline protein coat surrounding the curved surface, using protein self-assembly. Here authors image native and purified RsaA, the S-layer protein from C. crescentus, and show that protein crystallization alone is sufficient to assemble and maintain the S-layer in vivo.

    • Colin J. Comerci
    • , Jonathan Herrmann
    •  & W. E. Moerner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA is a biological building block which has drawn much attention as a structural material for a range of applications. Here, the authors report that DNA structures can be templated using shear-induced flow and microposts for controllable DNA patterning.

    • Yun Jeong Cha
    • , Soon Mo Park
    •  & Dong Ki Yoon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Induction of complex homochiral architectures by chiral transformation in a mixed enantiomer system has remained largely elusive. Here, the authors report a chirality dominance effect which induces homochiral suprastructures of calcium carbonate by a mixed, heterochiral nonracemic amino acid enantiomer system.

    • Wenge Jiang
    • , Dimitra Athanasiadou
    •  & Marc D. McKee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sacrificial templates are used for a range of different applications. Here, the authors synthesise a hyperbranched cyclodextrin polyester template with large void spaces, which is degraded in physiological conditions, and use it to create high surface area chitosan scaffolds for haemostatic applications.

    • Eric E. Leonhardt
    • , Nari Kang
    •  & Mahmoud Elsabahy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arthroplasty is the main clinical option for the treatment of osteoarticular lesions, but has limited efficacy. Here, the authors use a wound dressing with autologous mesenchymal stromal cells, functionalised for local BMP2 delivery, and show feasibility and safety in standardised preclinical tests in animal models, suggesting suitability for use in clinical trials.

    • Laetitia Keller
    • , Luc Pijnenburg
    •  & Nadia Benkirane-Jessel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In vitro testing of implant materials bioactivity is important and the current methods take time. Here, the authors report on the development of a faster titration based method for assessing the mineralization activity of materials and validate the method in vitro and in vivo using titanium surfaces.

    • Weitian Zhao
    • , David Michalik
    •  & Paul Bowen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer can be complicated by side effects and poor efficacy. Here, the authors use a nanoparticle-based approach in combination with a TLR7 agonist and sonodynamic therapy, and find that when used together with anti-PD-L1, tumour formation and metastases are impacted.

    • Wenwen Yue
    • , Liang Chen
    •  & Yu Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Zeolites have attracted attention and have been applied as haemostatic agents; however, there are issues associated with released zeolite powder. Here, the authors report on the growth of zeolites on cotton fibres with high stability and haemostatic ability.

    • Lisha Yu
    • , Xiaoqiang Shang
    •  & Jie Fan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The incorporation of cells into tissue engineering scaffolds can be a major challenge. Here, the authors report on anchoring thrombin to cell membranes for the in situ formation of fibrin scaffolds around the modified cells, demonstrate scaffold formation in vitro and show cell survival in vivo.

    • Robert C. Deller
    • , Thomas Richardson
    •  & Adam W. Perriman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The increasing concern of global plastic pollution has led to an increase in the production and characterization of bio-based and biodegradable alternatives. Here the authors show the synthesis of a series of fully bio-based alternatives based on 2,4-, 2,5-, and 2,6- pyridinedicarboxylic acids, via enzymatic catalysis.

    • Alessandro Pellis
    • , James W. Comerford
    •  & Thomas J. Farmer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Functional materials that act as bio-sensing media when interfaced with complex bio-matter are attractive for health sciences and bio-engineering. Here, the authors report room temperature enzyme-mediated spontaneous hydrogen transfer between a perovskite quantum material and glucose reactions.

    • Hai-Tian Zhang
    • , Fan Zuo
    •  & Shriram Ramanathan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal-organic frameworks have shown promise as nanoreactors, facilitating the synthesis of molecules that are otherwise difficult to isolate. Here, the authors design a framework featuring unobstructed adenine linkers to which thymine molecules can base-pair, allowing for thymine dimerization in the pores upon UV irradiation.

    • Samantha L. Anderson
    • , Peter G. Boyd
    •  & Kyriakos C. Stylianou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biomimetic catechol-based adhesives have attracted significant interest but can lose adhesion due to excessive oxidation. Here, the authors report on the addition of silver-Lignin nanoparticles as a dynamic catechol redox system to maintain catechol/quinone balance, making a reusable, antibacterial bioadhesive.

    • Donglin Gan
    • , Wensi Xing
    •  & Xiong Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spider silk is widely studied for its structural properties; however, other creatures produce silk that could be of interest. Here, the authors study the properties and structure of Bagworm silk and report it as being extraordinarily strong and tough compared to other known silks.

    • Taiyo Yoshioka
    • , Takuya Tsubota
    •  & Tsunenori Kameda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA nanostructures hold great promise for drug delivery, but systemic administration is problematic. Here, the authors demonstrate that framework nucleic acids (FNAs) improve drug accumulation in tumours in topical application and that penetration depth is controllable through adjusting FNA size.

    • Christian Wiraja
    • , Ying Zhu
    •  & Chenjie Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cell membrane interface is mostly studied using synthetic bilayers and reconstituted cell membranes. Here the authors present a new cell fixation method in which the cytoskeleton is replaced by a synthetic hydrogel polymer network assembled inside the cell, thereby preserving the fluid membrane properties after cell death.

    • Jung-Chen Lin
    • , Chen-Ying Chien
    •  & Che-Ming J. Hu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chromatophores in cephalopod skin are known for fast changes in coloration due to light-scattering pigment granules. Here, authors demonstrate structural coloration facilitated by reflectin in sheath cells and offer insights into the interplay between structural and pigmentary coloration elements.

    • Thomas L. Williams
    • , Stephen L. Senft
    •  & Leila F. Deravi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Depletion of propellant in chemical-fuel-driven nanomotors is a limiting factor in device design and application. Here, the authors create a nitric-oxide-generating nanoparticle and explore cellular uptake and application of the nanomotors in nitric oxide treatments.

    • Mimi Wan
    • , Huan Chen
    •  & Jian Shen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photosynthetic proteins are used to harvest solar energy in bio-photovoltaics, but are typically not investigated for charge storage. Here the authors report prolonged charge storage in multilayers of photoproteins as well as a proof-of-principle biophotonic power cell with purple bacterial photoproteins.

    • Sai Kishore Ravi
    • , Piper Rawding
    •  & Swee Ching Tan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current treatments of wet age-related macular degeneration require repeated injections of active drugs into the vitreous. Here Wang et al. develop nanoparticles that when injected intravenously can be targeted to the eye by irradiation with blue light, allowing local and enhanced drug release in the back of the eye, and providing an alternative to current delivery strategies.

    • Yanfei Wang
    • , Chi-Hsiu Liu
    •  & Daniel S. Kohane

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Defect tolerance is important in order to ensure the mechanical integrity of synthetic materials and biological tissues. Here the authors demonstrate that toughening mechanisms provide soft collagenous tissues with high defect tolerance, with important implications for biomedical applications.

    • Kevin Bircher
    • , Manuel Zündel
    •  & Edoardo Mazza

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coccolithophores are one of the most abundant phytoplankton and calcifying organisms, well-known to produce intricate calcareous exoskeletons made of coccoliths. Here the authors show, by using X-ray nanotomography, the dependence of the grid size on the calcite nucleation site number and on the mass of coccoliths.

    • T. Beuvier
    • , I. Probert
    •  & A. Gibaud

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Heart grafts need good vascularization to survive. Here, the authors engineer perfusable constructs of human embryonic stem cell-derived endothelial cells seeded in collagen matrix in patterned microchannels that form anastomosed vessels in vitro and have increased coronary vascular perfusion on transplantation in rats.

    • Meredith A. Redd
    • , Nicole Zeinstra
    •  & Ying Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials exhibiting room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) with short afterglow are desirable for bio-medical applications. Here the authors synthesise a library of compounds with tunable RTP properties, embedding carbon nanodots in non-toxic alkaline-earth carbonate, sulphate and oxalate hosts.

    • David C. Green
    • , Mark A. Holden
    •  & Fiona C. Meldrum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) quantum dots (QDs) have promising electronic properties which might be further tailorable by defect engineering. Here the authors describe a room temperature aqueous based synthesis of TMD QDs with controlled defect concentration, and demonstrate the correlation between defect concentration and biomedical activity.

    • Xianguang Ding
    • , Fei Peng
    •  & David Tai Leong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optogenetics is a promising alternative approach for restoration of neuromuscular function. Here the authors establish a closed-loop functional optogenetic stimulation for the control of limb joint angle in murine models, which demonstrates improved control and less fatigue than electrical stimulation systems.

    • Shriya S. Srinivasan
    • , Benjamin E. Maimon
    •  & Hugh M. Herr

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photodynamic therapy is usually ineffective against deeply seated metastatic tumors due to poor penetration of the excitation light. Here, the authors design a biomimetic nanoreactor which can convert nutriment glucose into toxic singlet oxygen via chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer with no light excitation and demonstrate its high efficacy in a mouse lung metastatic model.

    • Zhengze Yu
    • , Ping Zhou
    •  & Bo Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cells communicate through chemical and mechanical signals but emulating these in non-living mimics has been challenging. Here the authors present a porous mimic with a DNA-hydrogel ‘nucleus’ that can communicate through diffusive protein signals.

    • Henrike Niederholtmeyer
    • , Cynthia Chaggan
    •  & Neal K. Devaraj

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Myosin motors drive the actin cytoskeleton out-of-equilibrium, but the role of myosin-driven active stresses in the accumulation and dissipation of mechanical work is unclear. Here, the authors synthesize an actomyosin material and find that the rate of entropy production increases non-monotonically with increasing accumulation of active stresses.

    • Daniel S. Seara
    • , Vikrant Yadav
    •  & Michael P. Murrell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imaging tracking of the migration of cell-based drug delivery systems are needed for expanding their clinical application for glioma. Here they report inflammation activatable engineered neutrophils containing doxorubicin-loaded magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles to image and actively target brain tumors after resection.

    • Meiying Wu
    • , Haixian Zhang
    •  & Hairong Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing nucleic acid-based nanostructures with knots remains challenging. Here the authors present a general strategy to design and construct highly knotted 2D and 3D nanostructures from single-stranded DNA or RNA

    • Xiaodong Qi
    • , Fei Zhang
    •  & Hao Yan

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