Device Design and Advanced Computed Tomography of 3D Printed Radiopaque Composite Scaffolds and Meniscus
3D printed biomaterial implants are revolutionizing personalized medicine for tissue repair, especially in orthopedics. In this study, a radiopaque bismuth oxide (BiO) doped polycaprolactone (PCL) composite is developed and implemented to enable the use of diagnostic X-ray technologies, especially spectral photon counting X-ray computed tomography (SPCCT), for comprehensive tissue engineering scaffold (TES) monitoring. PCL filament with homogeneous BiO nanoparticle (NP) dispersion (0.8 to 11.7 wt%) are first fabricated. TES are then 3D printed with the composite filament, optimizing printing parameters for small features and severely overhung geometries. These composite TES are characterized via micro-computed tomography (μCT), tensile testing, and a cytocompatibility study, with 2 wt% BiO NPs providing improved tensile properties, equivalent cytocompatibility to neat PCL, and excellent radiographic distinguishability. Radiographic performance is validated in situ by imaging 4 and 7 wt% BiO doped PCL TES in a mouse model with μCT, showing excellent agreement with in vitro measurements. Subsequently, CT image-derived swine menisci are 3D printed with composite filament and re-implanted in corresponding swine legs ex vivo. Re-imaging the swine legs via clinical CT allows facile identification of device location and alignment. Finally, the emergent technology of SPCCT unambiguously distinguishes the implanted meniscus in situ via means of color K-edge imaging.
Dual Infrared 2-Photon Microscopy Achieves Minimal Background Deep Tissue Imaging in Brain and Plant Tissues
Traditional deep fluorescence imaging has primarily focused on red-shifting imaging wavelengths into the near-infrared (NIR) windows or implementation of multi-photon excitation approaches. Here, we combine the advantages of NIR and multiphoton imaging by developing a dual-infrared two-photon microscope to enable high-resolution deep imaging in biological tissues. We first computationally identify that photon absorption, as opposed to scattering, is the primary contributor to signal attenuation. We next construct a NIR two-photon microscope with a 1640 nm femtosecond pulsed laser and a NIR PMT detector to image biological tissues labeled with fluorescent single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). We achieve spatial imaging resolutions close to the Abbe resolution limit and eliminate blur and background autofluorescence of biomolecules, 300 μm deep into brain slices and through the full 120 μm thickness of a leaf. We also demonstrate that NIR-II two-photon microscopy can measure tissue heterogeneity by quantifying how much the fluorescence power law function varies across tissues, a feature we exploit to distinguish Huntington's Disease afflicted mouse brain tissues from wildtype. Our results suggest dual-infrared two-photon microscopy could accomplish in-tissue structural imaging and biochemical sensing with a minimal background, and with high spatial resolution, in optically opaque or highly autofluorescent biological tissues.
Fiber-based Miniature Strain Sensor with Fast Response and Low Hysteresis
Flexible and stretchable strain sensors are in high demand in sports performance monitoring, structural health monitoring, and biomedical applications. However, existing stretchable soft sensors, primarily based on soft polymer materials, often suffer from drawbacks, including high hysteresis, low durability, and delayed response. To overcome these limitations, we introduced a stretchable miniature fiber sensor comprised of a stretchable core tightly coiled with parallel conductive wires. This fiber sensor is flexible and stretchable while exhibiting low hysteresis, a remarkable theoretical resolution of 0.015%, a response time of less than 30 milliseconds, and excellent stability after extensive cycling tests of over 16,000 cycles. To understand and predict the capacitive sensor response of the proposed sensor, an analytical expression was derived and proved to have good agreements with both experimental results and numerical simulation. The potential of the strain sensor as a wearable device is demonstrated by embedding it into belts, gloves, and knee protectors. Additionally, the sensor could extend its applications beyond wearable devices, as demonstrated by its integration into bladder and life safety rope monitoring systems. We envision our sensor can find applications in the field of sports performance evaluations, health care monitoring, and structural safety assessments.
Photo-responsive decellularized small intestine submucosa hydrogels
Decellularized small intestine submucosa (dSIS) is a promising biomaterial for promoting tissue regeneration. Isolated from the submucosal layer of animal jejunum, SIS is rich in extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, including collagen, laminin, and fibronectin. Following mild decellularization, dSIS becomes an acellular matrix that supports cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. Conventional dSIS matrix is usually obtained by thermal crosslinking, which yields a soft scaffold with low stability. To address these challenges, dSIS has been modified with methacrylate groups for photocrosslinking into stable hydrogels. However, dSIS has not been modified with clickable handles for orthogonal crosslinking. Here, we report the development of norbornene-modified dSIS, named dSIS-NB, via reacting amine groups of dSIS with carbic anhydride in acidic aqueous reaction conditions. Using triethylamine (TEA) as a mild base catalyst, we obtained high degrees of NB substitution on dSIS. In addition to describing the synthesis of dSIS-NB, we explored its adaptability in orthogonal hydrogel crosslinking and used dSIS-NB hydrogels for cancer and vascular tissue engineering. Impressively, compared with physically crosslinked dSIS and collagen matrices, orthogonally crosslinked dSIS-NB hydrogels supported rapid dissemination of cancer cells and superior vasculogenic and angiogenic properties. dSIS-NB was also exploited as a versatile bioink for 3D bioprinting applications.
Phosphatidylserine-incorporated exosome mimetics encapsulating CXCR3 antagonist alleviate osteoporosis
Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells are an active area of research due to their therapeutic potential in treating osteoporosis. To further harness their therapeutic performance in modulating bone resorption, we have equipped exosomes with osteoclast-targeting moieties on their surface as well as chemokine receptor antagonists blocking osteoclast recruitment. Phosphatidylserine (PS), a membrane lipid exerting immunosuppressive and phagocytic signals, was incorporated in the membrane of exosome mimetics (EMs) to achieve a marked affinity for osteoclast precursors and potential anti-resorptive effects. We also aimed to tackle a CXCL9-CXCR3 ligand-receptor axis, a critical signaling axis in regulating osteoclast precursor recruitment and differentiation at bone resorption sites, by encapsulating a chemical antagonist of CXCR3, AMG487, in the PS-incorporated EMs (PS-EMs). The osteoclast-targeting PS-EMs loaded with AMG487 effectively protected against bone loss in an ovariectomized mouse model. Our findings demonstrate the great promise of PS-EMs as anti-resorptive nanotherapies for alleviating osteoporosis.
Gelatin-Mediated Vascular Self-Assembly via a YAP-MMP Signaling Axis
Tissue self-assembly relies on the interplay between structural cues imparted by the extracellular matrix and instructive chemical factors that guide cellular signaling pathways. Here, we report that endothelial cell-laden gelatin-based hydrogels with optimized mechanical and chemical properties facilitate vasculogenesis and recruitment of endogenous blood vessels . We demonstrate that these engineered matrices, with tailored viscoelastic features and stiffness, drive vascular self-assembly in a yes-associated protein mechanosensing-dependent manner through αvβ3 integrin and matrix metalloproteinase 2 activity. Our research highlights how the extracellular matrix, in the form of gelatin-based hydrogels with adjustable stress relaxation rates, drive vascular morphogenesis in the absence of growth factor supplementation, lending to a minimalistic platform for discretizing features of the microenvironment niche. Collectively, these results demonstrate a testbed that enables mechanistic evaluation of morphogenetic processes. Specifically, our results show how mechanical cues impact signaling pathways that modulate vascular remodeling, a critical tissue engineering paradigm needed for the translational application of vascularized grafts for regenerative medicine applications.
Synthetic Colonic Mucus Enables the Development of Modular Microbiome Organoids
The human colon is home to trillions of microorganisms that modulate gastrointestinal physiology. Our understanding of how this gut ecosystem impacts human health, although evolving, has been slowed by the lack of accessible tools suitable to studying complex host-mucus-microbe interactions. Here, we report a synthetic gel-like material capable of recapitulating the varied structural, mechanical, and biochemical profiles of native human colonic mucus to develop compositionally simple microbiome screening platforms with utility in microbiology and drug discovery. The viscous fibrillar material is realized through templated assembly of a fluorine-rich amino acid at liquid-liquid interphases. The fluorine-assisted mucus surrogate (FAMS) can be decorated with mucins to serve as a habitat for microbial colonization and integrated with human colorectal cells to generate artificial mucosae, referred to as a microbiome organoid. Notably, FAMS are made with inexpensive and commercially available materials, and can be generated using simple protocols and standard laboratory hardware. As a result, this platform can be broadly incorporated into various laboratory settings to advance probiotic research and inform in vivo approaches. If implemented into high throughput screening approaches, FAMS may represent a valuable tool to study compound metabolism and gut permeability, with an exemplary demonstration of this utility presented here.
"Reactive" Chemical Strategy to Attain Substrate Independent "" Omniphobic Solid Anti-Biofouling Coatings
Covalent and defect-free surface-grafted solid lubricating chains that can impart slippery behavior have proven advantageous over lubricant infused and textured anti-wetting surfaces. Herein, the co-hydrolysis and co-condensation of a mixture of organosilanes followed by the epoxy-amine ring opening reaction at the interface results in a highly robust, transparent and solid slippery omniphobic coating (LL-OSC). The presence of the epoxy-terminated organosilane a) acts as a molecular spacer in between the low-surface energy, rigid fluorine terminated silane and b) provides 'reactive' epoxy groups for covalent binding to a pre-functionalized amine surface for potential applicability in droplet transport and manipulation, diagnostics etc. LL-OSC exhibits resistance to both solid and liquid abrasions such as sandpaper abrasions, prolonged UV irradiation, DI water and high temperature (30 days), submersion in chemically contaminated aqueous solutions. This is the first report of a hemocompatible solid slippery coating for inhibiting platelet adhesion, thus, paving way for blood-contacting medical device applications. Our LL-OSC exhibits remarkable cytocompatibility, repellence to plasma protein, cells and prevents biofilm formation. Additionally, the substrate independent LL-OSC can be applied onto metals and polymers. We envision that the reported durable, solid slippery coating will find widespread applicability in hospital settings, electronic devices etc.
Egg White Photocrosslinkable Hydrogels as Versatile Bioinks for Advanced Tissue Engineering Applications
Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting using photocrosslinkable hydrogels has gained considerable attention due to its versatility in various applications, including tissue engineering and drug delivery. Egg White (EW) is an organic biomaterial with excellent potential in tissue engineering. It provides abundant proteins, along with biocompatibility, bioactivity, adjustable mechanical properties, and intrinsic antiviral and antibacterial features. Here, we have developed a photocrosslinkable hydrogel derived from EW through methacryloyl modification, resulting in Egg White methacryloyl (EWMA). Upon exposure to UV light, synthesized EWMA becomes crosslinked, creating hydrogels with remarkable bioactivity. These hydrogels offer adjustable mechanical and physical properties compatible with most current bioprinters. The EWMA hydrogels closely resemble the native extracellular matrix (ECM) due to cell-binding and matrix metalloproteinase-responsive motifs inherent in EW. In addition, EWMA promotes cell growth and proliferation in 3D cultures. It facilitates vascularization when investigated with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), making it an attractive replacement for engineering hemocompatible vascular grafts and biomedical implants. In summary, the EWMA matrix enables the biofabrication of various living constructs. This breakthrough enhances the development of physiologically relevant 3D models and opens many opportunities in regenerative medicine.
Covalent Attachment of Horseradish Peroxidase to Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Hydrogen Peroxide Detection
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are desirable nanoparticles for sensing biological analytes due to their photostability and intrinsic near-infrared fluorescence. Previous strategies for generating SWCNT nanosensors have leveraged nonspecific adsorption of sensing modalities to the hydrophobic SWCNT surface that often require engineering new molecular recognition elements. An attractive alternate strategy is to leverage pre-existing molecular recognition of proteins for analyte specificity, yet attaching proteins to SWCNT for nanosensor generation remains challenging. Towards this end, we introduce a generalizable platform to generate protein-SWCNT-based optical sensors and use this strategy to synthesize a hydrogen peroxide (HO) nanosensor by covalently attaching horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to the SWCNT surface. We demonstrate a concentration-dependent response to HO, confirm the nanosensor can image HO in real-time, and assess the nanosensor's selectivity for HO against a panel of biologically relevant analytes. Taken together, these results demonstrate successful covalent attachment of enzymes to SWCNTs while preserving both intrinsic SWCNT fluorescence and enzyme function. We anticipate this platform can be adapted to covalently attach other proteins of interest including other enzymes for sensing or antibodies for targeted imaging and cargo delivery.
Deformable Joule heating electrode based on hybrid layers of silver nanowires and carbon nanotubes and its application in a refreshable multi-cell Braille display
Stretchable electrodes are an essential component in soft actuator systems. In particular, Joule heating electrodes (JHEs) are required for thermal actuation systems. A highly stretchable, patternable, and low-voltage operating JHE based on hybrid layers of silver nanowires (AgNWs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reported. The conductive layers were applied on a locally pre-strained bistable electroactive polymer (BSEP) membrane to form a wrinkled conductive surface with a low resistance of 300 Ω/sq, and subsequently patterned to a serpentine trace by laser engraving. The resistance of the resulting electrode remains nearly unchanged up to ~80-90% area strain. By applying a voltage of 7 - 9 V to the electrode, the temperature of the BSEP membrane increased to more than 60 °C, well above the polymer's phase transition temperature of 46 °C, thereby lowering its modulus by a factor of 10. An electronic Braille device based on the JHEs on a BSEP membrane was assembled with a diaphragm chamber. The electrode was patterned into 3 × 2 individually addressable pixels according to the standard U.S. Braille cell format. Through Joule heating of the pixels and local expansion of the BSEP membrane using a small pneumatic pressure, the pixels deformed out of the plane by over 0.5 mm to display specific Braille letters. The Braille content can be refreshed for 20,000 cycles at the same operating voltage.
Programmed Internal Reconfigurations in a 3D-Printed Mechanical Metamaterial Enable Fluidic Control for a Vertically Stacked Valve Array
Microfluidic valves play a key role within microfluidic systems by regulating fluid flow through distinct microchannels, enabling many advanced applications in medical diagnostics, lab-on-chips, and laboratory automation. While microfluidic systems are often limited to planar structures, 3D printing enables new capabilities to generate complex designs for fluidic circuits with higher densities and integrated components. However, the control of fluids within 3D structures presents several difficulties, making it challenging to scale effectively and many fluidic devices are still often restricted to quasi-planar structures. Incorporating mechanical metamaterials that exhibit spatially adjustable mechanical properties into microfluidic systems provides an opportunity to address these challenges. Here, we have performed systematic computational and experimental characterization of a modified re-entrant honeycomb structure to generate a modular metamaterial for an active device that allows us to directly regulate flow through integrated, multiplexed fluidic channels "one-at-a-time," in a manner that is highly scalable. We present a design algorithm so that this architecture can be extended to arbitrary geometries, and we expect that by incorporation of mechanical metamaterial designs into 3D printed fluidic systems, which themselves are readily expandable to any complex geometries, will enable new biotechnological and biomedical applications of 3D printed devices.
Strategies for Making High-Performance Artificial Spider Silk Fibers
Artificial spider silk is an attractive material for many technical applications since it is a biobased fiber that can be produced under ambient conditions but still outcompetes synthetic fibers (e.g., Kevlar) in terms of toughness. Industrial use of this material requires bulk-scale production of recombinant spider silk proteins in heterologous host and replication of the pristine fiber's mechanical properties. High molecular weight spider silk proteins can be spun into fibers with impressive mechanical properties, but the production levels are too low to allow commercialization of the material. Small spider silk proteins, on the other hand, can be produced at yields that are compatible with industrial use, but the mechanical properties of such fibers need to be improved. Here, the literature on wet-spinning of artificial spider silk fibers is summarized and analyzed with a focus on mechanical performance. Furthermore, several strategies for how to improve the properties of such fibers, including optimized protein composition, smarter spinning setups, innovative protein engineering, chemical and physical crosslinking as well as the incorporation of nanomaterials in composite fibers, are outlined and discussed.
Tuneable Recombinant Spider Silk Protein Hydrogels for Drug Release and 3D Cell Culture
Hydrogels are useful drug release systems and tissue engineering scaffolds. However, synthetic hydrogels often require harsh gelation conditions and can contain toxic by-products while naturally derived hydrogels can transmit pathogens and in general have poor mechanical properties. Thus, there is a need for a hydrogel that forms under ambient conditions, is non-toxic, xeno-free, and has good mechanical properties. A recombinant spider silk protein-derived hydrogel that rapidly forms at 37 °C is recently developed. The temperature and gelation times are well-suited for an injectable in situ polymerising hydrogel, as well as a 3D cell culture scaffold. Here, it is shown that the diffusion rate and the mechanical properties can be tuned by changing the protein concentration and that human fetal mesenchymal stem cells encapsulated in the hydrogels show high survival and viability. Furthermore, mixtures of recombinant spider silk proteins and green fluorescent protein (GFP) form gels from which functional GFP is gradually released, indicating that bioactive molecules are easily included in the gels, maintain activity and can diffuse through the gel. Interestingly, encapsulated ARPE-19 cells are viable and continuously produce the growth factor progranulin, which is detected in the cell culture medium over the study period of 31 days.
Photosensitive Nanoprobes for Rapid Isolation and Size-Specific Enrichment of Synthetic and Extracellular Vesicle Subpopulations
The biggest challenge in current isolation methods for lipid bilayer-encapsulated vesicles, such as exosomes, secretory, and synthetic vesicles, lies in the absence of a unified approach that seamlessly delivers high purity, yield, and scalability for large-scale applications. To address this gap, we have developed an innovative method that utilizes photosensitive lipid nanoprobes specifically designed for efficient isolation of vesicles and sorting them into subpopulations based on size. The photosensitive component in the probe undergoes cleavage upon exposure to light, facilitating the release of vesicles in their near-native form. We demonstrate that our method provides superior capability in isolating extracellular vesicles from complex biological media and separating them into size-based subpopulations within 1 hour, achieving more efficiency and purity than ultracentrifugation. Furthermore, this method's cost-effectiveness and rapid enrichment of the vesicles align with demands for large-scale isolation and downstream analyses of nucleic acids and proteins. Our method opens new avenues in exploring, analyzing, and utilizing synthetic and extracellular vesicle subpopulations in various biomedical applications, including diagnostics, therapeutic delivery, and biomarker discovery.
Real-Time, Non-Invasive Monitoring of Neuronal Differentiation Using Intein-Enabled Fluorescence Signal Translocation in Genetically Encoded Stem Cell-Based Biosensors
Real-time and non-invasive monitoring of neuronal differentiation will help increase our understanding of neuronal development and help develop regenerative stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Traditionally, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blotting, and immunofluorescence (IF) staining have been widely used to investigate stem cell differentiation; however, their limitations include endpoint analysis, invasive nature of monitoring, and lack of single-cell-level resolution. Several limitations hamper current approaches to studying neural stem cell (NSC) differentiation. In particular, fixation and staining procedures can introduce artificial changes in cellular morphology, hindering our ability to accurately monitor the progression of the process and fully understand its functional aspects, particularly those related to cellular connectivity and neural network formation. Herein, we report a novel approach to monitor neuronal differentiation of NSCs non-invasively in real-time using cell-based biosensors (CBBs). Our research efforts focused on utilizing intein-mediated protein engineering to design and construct a highly sensitive biosensor capable of detecting a biomarker of neuronal differentiation, hippocalcin. Hippocalcin is a critical protein involved in neurogenesis, and the CBB functions by translocating a fluorescence signal to report the presence of hippocalcin externally. To construct the hippocalcin sensor proteins, hippocalcin bioreceptors, AP2 and glutamate ionotropic receptor AMPA-type subunit 2 (GRIA2), were fused to each split-intein carrying split-nuclear localization signal (NLS) peptides, respectively, and a fluorescent protein was introduced as a reporter. Protein splicing (PS) was triggered in the presence of hippocalcin to generate functional signal peptides, which promptly translocated the fluorescence signal to the nucleus. The stem cell-based biosensor showed fluorescence signal translocation only upon neuronal differentiation. Undifferentiated stem cells or cells that had differentiated into astrocytes or oligodendrocytes did not show fluorescence signal translocation. The number of differentiated neurons was consistent with that measured by conventional IF staining. Furthermore, this approach allowed for the monitoring of neuronal differentiation at an earlier stage than that detected using conventional approaches, and the translocation of fluorescence signal was monitored before the noticeable expression of class III β-tubulin (TuJ1), an early neuronal differentiation marker. We believe that these novel CBBs offer an alternative to current techniques by capturing the dynamics of differentiation progress at the single-cell level and by providing a tool to evaluate how NSCs efficiently differentiate into specific cell types, particularly neurons.
Oxidized mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles for Chimeric Antigen Receptor Monocyte Engineering
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) monocyte and macrophage therapies are promising solid tumor immunotherapies that can overcome the challenges facing conventional CAR T cell therapy. mRNA lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) offer a viable platform for engineering of CAR monocytes with transient and tunable CAR expression to reduce off-tumor toxicity and streamline cell manufacturing. However, identifying LNPs with monocyte tropism and intracellular delivery potency is difficult using traditional screening techniques. Here, ionizable lipid design and high-throughput screening are utilized to identify a new class of oxidized LNPs with innate tropism and mRNA delivery to monocytes. A library of oxidized (oLNPs) and unoxidized LNPs (uLNPs) is synthesized to evaluate mRNA delivery to immune cells. oLNPs demonstrate notable differences in morphology, ionization energy, and p, therefore enhancing delivery to human macrophages, but not T cells. Subsequently, library screening with DNA barcodes identifies an oLNP formulation, C14-O2, with innate tropism to monocytes. In a proof-of-concept study, the C14-O2 LNP is used to engineer functional CD19-CAR monocytes for robust B cell aplasia (45%) in healthy mice. This work highlights the utility of oxidized LNPs as a promising platform for engineering CAR macrophages/monocytes for solid tumor CAR monocyte therapy.
3D Bioprinting Highly Elastic PEG-PCL-DA Hydrogel for Soft Tissue Fabrication and Biomechanical Stimulation
3-D bioprinting is a promising technology to fabricate custom geometries for tissue engineering. However, most bioprintable hydrogels are weak and fragile, difficult to handle and cannot mimetic the mechanical behaviors of the native soft elastic tissues. We have developed a visible light crosslinked, single-network, elastic and biocompatible hydrogel system based on an acrylated triblock copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol) PEG and polycaprolactone (PCL) (PEG-PCL-DA). To enable its application in bioprinting of soft tissues, we have modified the hydrogel system on its printability and biodegradability. Furthermore, we hypothesize that this elastic material can better transmit pulsatile forces to cells, leading to enhanced cellular response under mechanical stimulation. This central hypothesis was tested using vascular conduits with smooth muscle cells (SMCs) cultured under pulsatile forces in a custom-made bioreactor. The results showed that vascular conduits made of PEG-PCL-DA hydrogel faithfully recapitulate the rapid stretch and recoil under the pulsatile pressure from 1 to 3 Hz frequency, which induced a contractile SMC phenotype, consistently upregulated the core contractile transcription factors. In summary, our work demonstrates the potential of elastic hydrogel for 3D bioprinting of soft tissues by fine tuning the printability, biodegradability, while possess robust elastic property suitable for manual handling and biomechanical stimulation.
Engineering Synthetic Erythrocytes as Next-Generation Blood Substitutes
Blood scarcity is one of the main causes of healthcare disruptions worldwide, with blood shortages occurring at an alarming rate. Over the last decades, blood substitutes has aimed at reinforcing the supply of blood, with several products (e.g., hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers, perfluorocarbons) achieving a limited degree of success. Regardless, there is still no widespread solution to this problem due to persistent challenges in product safety and scalability. In this Review, we describe different advances in the field of blood substitution, particularly in the development of artificial red blood cells, otherwise known as engineered erythrocytes. We categorize the different strategies into natural, synthetic, or hybrid approaches, and discuss their potential in terms of safety and scalability. We identify synthetic engineered erythrocytes as the most powerful approach, and describe erythrocytes from a materials engineering perspective. We review their biological structure and function, as well as explore different methods of assembling a material-based cell. Specifically, we discuss how to recreate size, shape, and deformability through particle fabrication, and how to recreate the functional machinery through synthetic biology and nanotechnology. We conclude by describing the versatile nature of synthetic erythrocytes in medicine and pharmaceuticals and propose specific directions for the field of erythrocyte engineering.
In Situ Detection of Neuroinflammation using Multi-cellular 3D Neurovascular Unit-on-a-Chip
The human neurovascular system is a complex network of blood vessels and brain cells that is essential to the proper functioning of the brain. In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in the role of this system in developing drugs to treat neuroinflammation. This process is believed to contribute to the development of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. While much remains to be learned about the precise mechanisms by which the neurovascular system interacts with the brain and how it can be targeted for therapeutic purposes, this area of research holds great promise for the future of neurology and medicine. Currently, creating neurovascular models begins with animal models, followed by testing on humans in clinical trials. However, the high number of medication failures that pass through animal testing indicates that animal models do not always reflect the outcome of human clinical trials. To overcome the challenges of neurovascular systems and the issues with animal models, we have developed a one-of-a-kind neurovascular unit-on-a-chip to accurately replicate the human neurovascular microenvironment. This neuroinflammation-on-a-chip platform has the potential to enhance the current methods of drug development and testing to treat neurodegenerative diseases. By replicating the human neurovascular unit in vitro, a more accurate representation of human physiology can be achieved compared to animal models. The ability to detect pro-inflammatory cytokines in situ and monitor physiological changes, such as barrier function, in real-time can provide an invaluable tool for evaluating the efficacy and safety of drugs. Moreover, using nano-sized graphene oxide for in situ detection of inflammatory responses is an innovative approach that can advance the field of neuroinflammation research. , our developed neuroinflammation-on-a-chip system has the potential to provide a more efficient and effective method for developing drugs for treating neurodegenerative diseases and other central nervous system (CNS) diseases.
Functional Nanomaterials for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease: Recent Progress and Future Perspectives
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the main causes of dementia worldwide, whereby neuronal death or malfunction leads to cognitive impairment in the elderly population. AD is highly prevalent, with increased projections over the next few decades. Yet current diagnostic methods for AD occur only after the presentation of clinical symptoms. Evidence in the literature points to potential mechanisms of AD induction beginning before clinical symptoms start to present, such as the formation of amyloid beta (A) extracellular plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Biomarkers of AD, including A , A , and tau protein, amongst others, show promise for early AD diagnosis. Additional progress is made in the application of biosensing modalities to measure and detect significant changes in these AD biomarkers within patient samples, such as cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and blood, serum, or plasma. Herein, a comprehensive review of the emerging nano-biomaterial approaches to develop biosensors for AD biomarkers' detection is provided. Advances, challenges, and potential of electrochemical, optical, and colorimetric biosensors, focusing on nanoparticle-based (metallic, magnetic, quantum dots) and nanostructure-based biomaterials are discussed. Finally, the criteria for incorporating these emerging nano-biomaterials in clinical settings are presented and assessed, as they hold great potential for enhancing early-onset AD diagnostics.