Biotechnology articles within Nature Materials

Featured

  • Editorial |

    The fundamental discoveries that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 were awarded with this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine.

  • News & Views |

    Post-infusion poly(ethylene glycol) surface modification of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells and a subcutaneous chemokine-adsorbing hydrogel address cytokine release syndrome and the neurotoxicity side effects of CAR T cell therapy against tumours.

    • Chuang Liu
    •  & Khalid Shah
  • News & Views |

    Lymphatic vessels within and near to tumours facilitate nanoparticle transport out of tumours, with ramifications in the design and implementation of next-generation clinical cancer nanomedicines.

    • Meghan J. O’Melia
    •  & Susan N. Thomas
  • Review Article |

    RNA-based therapeutics hold promise for the treatment of several diseases. This Review provides an overview of hydrogels for RNA delivery, discussing how the chemical nature and physical properties of hydrogels can be explored for tailored RNA loading and release, and highlighting the use of these materials in biomedical applications.

    • Ruibo Zhong
    • , Sepehr Talebian
    •  & Jinjun Shi
  • News & Views |

    A bioengineered model incorporating a synthetic extracellular matrix recapitulates the lymphoid tumour microenvironment, making it a valuable tool for drug testing and designing personalized therapies.

    • Akhilesh K. Gaharwar
    •  & Irtisha Singh
  • News & Views |

    A polymeric nanoparticle adjuvant containing a Toll-like receptor 7 agonist elicits broad protection against viral challenges.

    • Jorge Huete-Carrasco
    •  & Ed C. Lavelle
  • News & Views |

    A large-scale screening identifies an inhalable polymer nanoparticle formulation that safely and effectively delivers therapeutic mRNA molecules to the lungs of several animal species.

    • Ronnie H. Fang
    •  & Liangfang Zhang
  • News & Views |

    Soft actuators composed of a tough bioadhesive/elastomer shell encapsulating a stimuli-responsive metallic spring provide in situ mechanical stimulation of skeletal muscles to promote muscle tissue rehabilitation and prevent atrophy.

    • Xuanhe Zhao
  • Review Article |

    This Review discusses recent progress in bioinspired nanocomposite design, emphasizing the role of hierarchical structuring at distinct length scales to create multifunctional, lightweight and robust structural materials for diverse technological applications.

    • Dhriti Nepal
    • , Saewon Kang
    •  & Hendrik Heinz
  • Comment |

    Semi-synthetic goldilocks material design integrates the tunable characteristics of synthetic materials and the refined complexity of natural components, enabling for the progress of biomaterials across length scales. Accelerated translational success may thus be possible for more personalized and accessible products.

    • Alessondra T. Speidel
    • , Christopher L. Grigsby
    •  & Molly M. Stevens
  • Article |

    Mechanical confinement of fibroblasts into micrometre-sized channels deforms the cell nucleus, leading to temporary nuclear lamina destablization and disassembly, loss of lamina-associated domains in chromatin and a decrease in histone and DNA methylation. These mechanically induced alterations in chromatin boost the conversion of fibroblasts into neurons and pluripotent stem cells and thus can be explored for cell engineering applications.

    • Yang Song
    • , Jennifer Soto
    •  & Song Li
  • News & Views |

    Fruit flies injected with magnetic nanoparticles and genetically modified to sensitize neural circuits to the rate of change in temperature have enabled subsecond behavioural responses to magnetic stimuli and multi-channel magnetic control.

    • Michael G. Christiansen
    •  & Simone Schuerle
  • Article |

    Here the authors describe a method for remote magnetothermal stimulation of neurons that achieves subsecond behavioural responses in Drosophila fruit flies by combining magnetic nanoparticles with TRPA1-A, a rate-sensitive thermoreceptor. Tuning the properties of magnetic nanoparticles to respond to different magnetic field strengths and frequencies enables multichannel thermal magnetogenetic stimulation.

    • Charles Sebesta
    • , Daniel Torres Hinojosa
    •  & Jacob T. Robinson
  • Editorial |

    Materials scientists have played a key role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the development of vaccines and diagnostic tools to the rapid prototyping of ventilators.

  • Article |

    Fabrication of semiconductor heterojunctions typically involves a complex process and often leads to bioincompatibility. Here, the authors propose a porous heterojunction in p-type silicon via simple stain etching at ambient conditions, and apply it in optically induced biomodulation.

    • Aleksander Prominski
    • , Jiuyun Shi
    •  & Menahem Y. Rotenberg
  • News & Views |

    Lipid nanodiscs carrying a potent STING agonist penetrate deep into solid tumours compared with gold-standard liposomes and enable long-term antitumour immunotherapy.

    • Ningqiang Gong
    •  & Michael J. Mitchell
  • Editorial |

    The dissemination of synthetic biology into materials science is creating an evolving class of functional, engineered living materials that can grow, sense and adapt similar to biological organisms.

  • News & Views |

    A prototypical biocomposite block comprising a blend of bacteria, fungi and feedstock can be assembled into human-sized, living structures with self-healing and environmental sensing capabilities.

    • Kwok Soon Wun
    • , In Young Hwang
    •  & Matthew Wook Chang
  • Perspective |

    This Perspective reviews the complementary developments in synthetic biology and biomaterials and discusses how convergence of these two fields creates a promising design strategy for the fabrication of tailored living materials for medicine and biotechnology.

    • Allen P. Liu
    • , Eric A. Appel
    •  & Ovijit Chaudhuri
  • Article |

    Wiring photosynthetic biomachineries to electrodes is promising for sustainable bio-electricity and fuel generation, but designing such interfaces is challenging. Aerosol jet printing is now used to generate hierarchical pillar array electrodes using indium tin oxide nanoparticles for high-performance semi-artificial photosynthesis.

    • Xiaolong Chen
    • , Joshua M. Lawrence
    •  & Jenny Z. Zhang
  • News & Views |

    A synthetic matrix recapitulates fundamental biological interactions of pancreatic cancer to facilitate the culture of mouse and human pancreatic organoids.

    • Sohini Khan
    •  & Hervé Tiriac
  • Article |

    The influence of stress relaxation of the extracellular matrix on the formation of intestinal organoids was investigated. It was shown that a stress-relaxing synthetic matrix promotes crypt budding through increased symmetry breaking and niche cell formation.

    • Antonius Chrisnandy
    • , Delphine Blondel
    •  & Matthias P. Lutolf
  • News & Views |

    A nanosensor probe that combines a tumour-targeting peptide, a diagnostic reporter and an imaging contrast agent enables early diagnosis, precision imaging, disease stratification and downstream therapeutic response monitoring of metastatic cancer.

    • Matthew Bogyo
  • Editorial |

    DNA is much more than the genetic information it carries. It is a versatile material for creating systems with tailor-made functionalities that are having an important impact in emerging technologies.

  • News & Views |

    Elaborately designed DNA icosahedral shells cage intact virions to effectively protect host cells from viral infections.

    • Neha Chauhan
    •  & Xing Wang
  • Review Article |

    This Review summarizes limitations in the current techniques used for patient-derived cancer organoid culture and highlights recent advancements and future opportunities for their standardization.

    • Bauer L. LeSavage
    • , Riley A. Suhar
    •  & Sarah C. Heilshorn
  • Article |

    A functional interfacial material has been developed for soft integration of bioelectronic devices with biological tissues. This has been applied in battery-free optoelectronic systems for deep-brain optogenetics and subdermal phototherapy as well as wireless millimetre-scale pacemakers and flexible multielectrode epicardial arrays.

    • Quansan Yang
    • , Tong Wei
    •  & John A. Rogers
  • News & Views |

    An implantable stent inspired by kirigami has been developed and integrated with a fluidically driven soft actuator to deliver drugs to tubular organs in the body such as the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts.

    • Alexandra Teleki
    •  & Per Artursson
  • Article |

    Multimodal nanosensors have been developed to target and respond to hallmarks in the tumour microenvironment and provide both a non-invasive urinary monitoring tool and an on-demand positron emission tomography imaging agent to localize tumour metastasis and assess response to therapy.

    • Liangliang Hao
    • , Nazanin Rohani
    •  & Sangeeta N. Bhatia
  • News & Views |

    The combination of multicomponent magnetic nanoparticles and a mechanosensitive ion channel has been shown to achieve fast magnetomechanical stimulation of neurons within the brain.

    • Rahul Mushi
    •  & Arnd Pralle
  • Article |

    Programmable triangular DNA blocks self-assemble into distinct icosahedral shells with specific geometry and apertures that can encapsulate viruses and decrease viral infection.

    • Christian Sigl
    • , Elena M. Willner
    •  & Hendrik Dietz
  • Article |

    Silica beads encapsulating DNA information and functionalized with DNA labels create an alternative DNA data storage system, where direct random access and data retrieval are enabled by complementary fluorescent strands that identify beads for separation in fluorescence-activated sorting.

    • James L. Banal
    • , Tyson R. Shepherd
    •  & Mark Bathe
  • News & Views |

    Ionizable phospholipids have been developed to enhance the delivery of mRNA and sgRNA for gene editing by selective organ targeting and endosomal membrane destabilization.

    • Satish G. Jadhav
    •  & Steven F. Dowdy
  • Article |

    An approach integrating molecular dynamics-based computer-aided engineering with computer-aided design allows for the rapid construction of large three-dimensional DNA assemblies and control over their geometry, mechanics and dynamics.

    • Chao-Min Huang
    • , Anjelica Kucinic
    •  & Carlos E. Castro
  • Review Article |

    This Review highlights the progress that has been made in the development of diagnostic tools for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the fight against COVID-19.

    • Bhavesh D. Kevadiya
    • , Jatin Machhi
    •  & Howard E. Gendelman