Nanowerk September 22, 2022 Engineered living materials (ELMs) embed living cells in a biopolymer matrix to create materials with tailored functions. While bottom-up assembly of macroscopic ELMs with a de novo matrix would offer the greatest control over material properties, the ability to genetically encode a protein matrix that leads to collective self-organization is lacking. A team of researchers in the US (Rice University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley) grew ELMs from Caulobacter crescentus cells that display and secrete a self-interacting protein. This protein formed a de novo matrix and assembled cells into centimeter-scale ELMs. Discovery of design and […]
Category Archives: Bioengineering
Scientists bioprint tissue-like constructs capable of controlled, complex shape change
Phys.org March 31, 2022 The development of hydrogel-based 4D bioinks, especially those allowing living cell printing, with easy preparation, defined composition, and controlled physical properties is critically important for 4D bioprinting. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a single-component jammed micro-flake hydrogel (MFH) system with heterogeneous size distribution, which differs from the conventional granular microgel as a new cell-laden bioink for 4D bioprinting. The cytocompatible MFH features scalable production and straightforward composition with shear-thinning, shear-yielding, and rapid self-healing properties. It can be smoothly printed into stable 3D bioconstructs, which can be further cross-linked to form a gradient in […]
California’s first lab-grown mosquitoes may take flight—stirring controversy
Phys.org March 15, 2022 A biotech firm is seeking permission to release 2 million genetically modified male mosquitoes, with a “kill switch” built into their DNA, into the open air of California. When they mate with wild insects, their offspring die, causing an eventual collapse of the population. They are targeting swarms of the mosquito, first detected in Los Angeles County in 2011, which have since spread northward into 20 California counties. Unlike California’s native mosquitoes which emerge at dusk, these black-and-white-striped invaders hunt for blood during the day, when people are outside. They transmit potentially fatal Zika, dengue, yellow […]
Tracking the movement of a single nanoparticle
Phys.org July 27, 2021 Researchers in South Korea have developed a fluorescence-based nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) system to characterize the size and protein expression of individual extracellular vesicles (EV). In this system, a sheet of lasers with four different wavelengths was shone onto the EVs according to a programmed schedule, providing scattering images intercalated by three fluorescent images. The size, ratio, and scattered light of thousands of individual particles were observed, and a six-dimensional value composed of three different fluorescence was obtained. They measured the distribution of specific proteins in EVs (e.g., exosomes) at individual particle levels and analyzed the […]