Biotechnology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precise coupling of different or even contradictory material properties and biological characteristics is needed for tissue engineering but challenging. Here the authors report an all-in-one guided bone regeneration membrane that asymmetrically combines stiffness and flexibility, ingrowth barrier and ingrowth guiding, alongside anti-bacteria and cell-activation.

    • Shuyi Wu
    • , Shulu Luo
    •  & Yan Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Although artificial skins can facilitate the healing of damaged skin, the restoration of tactile functions remain a challenge. Here, Kang et al. report an artificial skin with an implantable tactile sensor that can simultaneously replace the tactile function by nerve stimulation and promote skin regeneration.

    • Kyowon Kang
    • , Seongryeol Ye
    •  & Youngmee Jung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving organoleptic properties of conventional meat is important for cultured meat production. Here, the authors demonstrate that the texture, flavor, and nutritional content of cultured meat can be significantly enhanced by regulating cell differentiation inside hydrogel scaffolds.

    • Milae Lee
    • , Sohyeon Park
    •  & Jinkee Hong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scalability of mechanoporation strategies for intracellular delivery remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate a microfluidic approach for delivering mRNA and CRISPR-Cas systems to over 250 million cells per minute.

    • Derin Sevenler
    •  & Mehmet Toner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microbial communities are the siege of complex metabolic interactions including cooperation and competition. Here, the authors report the utilization of optogenetics and spatial light-patterning to activate the expression of the invertase SUC2 at selected locations and selectively switch cooperation and competition roles of the yeast cells.

    • Matthias Le Bec
    • , Sylvain Pouzet
    •  & Pascal Hersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Automated and non-invasive mammalian cell analysis is currently lagging behind due to a lack of methods suitable for a variety of cell lines and applications. Here the authors develop a high throughput non-invasive method for tracking suspension and adhesion mammalian cell growth based on plate reader measures to characterize engineered cell lines.

    • Alice Grob
    • , Chiara Enrico Bena
    •  & Francesca Ceroni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors demonstrate that the frequency of HDR in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells is increased by the delivery of an inhibitor of 53BP1 as a recombinant peptide. This approach is applicable for a variety of therapeutically relevant loci in HSPCs as well in other primary human cell types.

    • Ron Baik
    • , M. Kyle Cromer
    •  & Matthew H. Porteus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Screening mutated proteins is a versatile strategy in protein research, producing massive datasets when combined with NGS. Here, authors present ACIDES to estimate mutated protein fitness and aid protein engineering pipelines in a range of applications, including gene therapy.

    • Takahiro Nemoto
    • , Tommaso Ocari
    •  & Ulisse Ferrari

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Targeting gluten antigens presents a plausible therapy option for celiac disease. Here the authors generate and characterize a broadly neutralizing antibody recognizing more than 25 gluten peptide:HLA-DQ2.5 complexes, with structural analyses implicating its mode of interaction, and with mouse in vivo studies supporting its therapeutic feasibility.

    • Yuu Okura
    • , Yuri Ikawa-Teranishi
    •  & Tomoyuki Igawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    With redox-linked synthetic biology and electrobiofabrication, electronic information can be transmitted in a bidirectional manner between biology and electronics. Here the authors design an electrogenetic platform that allows real time electronic control of biological functions from proteins and gene circuits to cell consortia.

    • Sally Wang
    • , Chen-Yu Chen
    •  & William E. Bentley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Building synthetic chromosomes from natural components is an unexplored alternative to de novo chromosome synthesis that may have many potential applications. In this paper, the authors report CReATiNG, a method for constructing synthetic chromosomes from natural components in yeast.

    • Alessandro L. V. Coradini
    • , Christopher Ne Ville
    •  & Ian M. Ehrenreich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One-carbon substrates are attractive feedstocks for circular bioeconomy. Here, the authors design an erythrulose monophosphate (EuMP) cycle for formaldehyde assimilation, demonstrate the activity of the core reactions in E. coli, and show its integration with pathway reactions existed in pentose phosphate pathway and glycolysis.

    • Tong Wu
    • , Paul A. Gómez-Coronado
    •  & Hai He

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Redox imbalance limits succinic acid (SA) biosynthesis from glucose via the reductive tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle in yeast. Here, the authors engineering the aerobic yeast Yarrowia lipolytica for efficient SA production without pH control via coupling the oxidative and reductive TCA cycle for NADH regeneration in mitochondria.

    • Zhiyong Cui
    • , Yutao Zhong
    •  & Qingsheng Qi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The integration of single-cell and spatial data can provide a more comprehensive picture of the network of cells within the tumour microenvironment. Here the authors use a combination of single-cell and spatial technologies including 10x Xenium to characterise serial formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human breast cancer sections.

    • Amanda Janesick
    • , Robert Shelansky
    •  & Sarah E. B. Taylor

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    As synthetic biology permeates society, the signal processing circuits in engineered living systems must be customized to meet practical demands. In this review, the authors outline design strategies for the DNA, RNA, and protein-level circuits and the hybrid “multi-level” circuits.

    • Yuanli Gao
    • , Lei Wang
    •  & Baojun Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spread of many infectious diseases substantially relies on aerosol transmission to the respiratory tract. Here, the authors design an intranasal mask with the ability to intercept viral aerosols, entrap and inactivate virus, thus preventing respiratory tract infection.

    • Xiaoming Hu
    • , Shuang Wang
    •  & Wei Wei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neurostimulators are often bulky and uncomfortable. Researchers report a wireless, leadless, and battery-free ultrasound receiver that wraps around the target peripheral nerve and allows precise modulation of organ function, providing a framework for future bioelectronic medicines

    • Tong Li
    • , Zhidong Wei
    •  & Zhang-Qi Feng

  • Q&A
    | Open Access

    Summary: Cultivated or cultured meat is promising to revolutionize the food industry in the coming years to decades, helping to resolve concerns related to the environmental impact and ethical implications linked to conventional meat production. We talked to Dr. Sandhya Sriram, the Group CEO and Co-founder of Shiok Meats Pte. Ltd., Singapore; Prof. Shulamit Levenberg, the former Dean of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Technion, current Director of the Technion Center for 3D Bioprinting and The Rina & Avner Schneur Center for Diabetes Research, as well as the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Adviser of Aleph Farms, Israel; and Dr. Timothy Olsen, Head of Cultured Meat in the Life Science business at Merck KGaA, Germany; about this relatively new and quickly developing sector. They explain what their teams are working on, including the biggest recent accomplishments, speak about the main challenges facing the field and how they can be resolved, and share their visions about the future of cultivated meat, aiming to provide more equitable and sustainable access to nutritious food for the growing world population.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Accumulation of lipid-laden macrophages in the arterial wall is a critical step in atherosclerosis. Here, the authors show that downregulation of Zeb1 in macrophages promotes lipid accumulation and atherosclerotic plaque formation while its restoration with macrophage-targeted nanoparticles reverses these effects.

    • M. C. Martinez-Campanario
    • , Marlies Cortés
    •  & Antonio Postigo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reconstructing transcriptome-wide spatially-resolved gene expressions requires modelling nonlinear patterns and spatial structures in RNA profiling data. Here, authors introduce a graph-guided neural hierarchical tensor decomposition model that incorporates spatial and functional relations for the task.

    • Tianci Song
    • , Charles Broadbent
    •  & Rui Kuang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Prediction of enzyme kinetic parameters is essential for designing and optimising enzymes for various biotechnological and industrial applications. Here, authors presented a prediction framework (UniKP), which improves the accuracy of predictions for three enzyme kinetic parameters.

    • Han Yu
    • , Huaxiang Deng
    •  & Xiaozhou Luo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cultured meat technology promises to alleviate protein shortages, but still faces many challenges. Here, the authors achieve serum-free myogenic differentiation of porcine pre-gastrulation epiblast stem cells and generate meat-like tissue via edible plant-based scaffolds without any animal compounds.

    • Gaoxiang Zhu
    • , Dengfeng Gao
    •  & Jianyong Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stage can prevent the disease and delay the symptoms. Here the authors identify a potential Alzheimer’s biomarker from tear fluid, and develop a nanoparticle-based immunoassay for its detection, demonstrating potential in Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

    • Sojeong Lee
    • , Eunjung Kim
    •  & Seungjoo Haam

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spatial transcriptomics (ST) enables gene expression characterisation within tissue sections, but comparing across sections and technologies remains challenging. Here, authors develop STalign to spatially align ST data and demonstrate applications including aligning to common coordinate frameworks.

    • Kalen Clifton
    • , Manjari Anant
    •  & Jean Fan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pathogenic variants of DDX3X are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) and cancer. Here, the authors perform saturation genome editing of DDX3X to test the functional impact of 12,776 variants, develop a machine learning classifier to identify variants relevant for NDD, and show that DDX3X predominantly acts as a tumour suppressor in cancer.

    • Elizabeth J. Radford
    • , Hong-Kee Tan
    •  & Matthew E. Hurles

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microbial rhodopsins are major contributors to global light harvesting on Earth, but their role in carbon fixation is unclear. Here, the authors construct an artificial photosynthesis system by combining rhodopsin with an extracellular electron uptake mechanism for photoelectrosynthetic CO2 fixation in Ralstonia eutropha.

    • Weiming Tu
    • , Jiabao Xu
    •  & Wei E. Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrical stimulation of the neuromuscular system holds promise for therapeutic biomedical applications, but is currently restricted by power. Here, the authors introduce fully implantable resonator-based designs achieving ±20 V compliance and >300 mW output, enabling multichannel, biphasic, current-controlled operation to evoke functional gate patterns for 6-weeks in freely behaving rats.

    • Alex Burton
    • , Zhong Wang
    •  & Philipp Gutruf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A pan-betacoronavirus vaccine will likely require the elicitation of antibodies against spike regions conserved across diverse coronaviruses. Here, authors computationally engineer and experimentally validate immunogens to elicit antibodies against two such spike regions.

    • A. Brenda Kapingidza
    • , Daniel J. Marston
    •  & Mihai L. Azoitei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It’s challenging to produce natural products using single strains of engineered microbes fed by renewable carbon sources. Here, the authors assemble a microbial consortium consisting of engineered S. stipitis and S. cerevisiae for streamlined production of (S)-norcoclaurine from glucose and xylose simultaneously.

    • Meirong Gao
    • , Yuxin Zhao
    •  & Zengyi Shao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The interaction of membrane-resident proteins plays an essential role in biological processes. Here the authors describe cellular biosensors based on chimeric receptors, as a tool to study the interaction of receptor-ligand pairs such as immune checkpoint molecules or virus attachment proteins and their receptors.

    • Maximilian A. Funk
    • , Judith Leitner
    •  & Peter Steinberger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Long-read single-cell RNA sequencing is capable of detecting isoform-level gene expression and genomic alterations such as mutations and gene fusions, thereby providing cell-specific genotype-phenotype information. Here, the authors use long-read scRNA-seq on metastatic ovarian cancer samples and detect cell-type specific isoforms and gene fusions that may otherwise be misclassified in short-read data.

    • Arthur Dondi
    • , Ulrike Lischetti
    •  & Niko Beerenwinkel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical inducer of dimerization (CID) modules can be used to effectively control biological processes; however, CID modules have been explored primarily in engineering cells for in vitro applications using inducers that have limited clinical utility. Here, the authors identify a CID module with favorable properties to enable rapid translation from in vitro applications to potential use in humans.

    • Stacey E. Chin
    • , Christina Schindler
    •  & Natalie J. Tigue

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving successful in vivo cartilage regeneration remains challenging. Here they present a cell-free, multiple hydrogen-bond crosslinked hydrogel loaded with tannic acid and Kartogenin with ultra-durable mechanical properties and stage-dependent drug release behavior to promote cartilage regeneration.

    • Yuxuan Yang
    • , Xiaodan Zhao
    •  & Xuesi Chen

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