bims-enlima Biomed News
on Engineered living materials
Issue of 2026–02–22
forty-four papers selected by
Rahul Kumar, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool
  1. Synthetic Microbial Ecosystems for Stable Flow Biocatalysis.
  2. Functional Biomaterials Through Biocooperation.
  3. Agitation-Driven Fusion Fabrication of Macroscopic Cell-Laden Cryogels.
  4. Blended and Microparticle Composite Hyaluronan Hydrogels with Programmable Degradation through Selective Oxidation.
  5. Fatigue Resistant Hydrogels Engineered With Twisting Hierarchical Structures.
  6. 4D morphogenetic tissue engineering via gradient-crosslinked microporous hydrogel scaffolds.
  7. Conformation-programmed DNA computing.
  8. Modulation of Peptidoglycan Crosslink Network in Escherichia coli Enhances Water-Responsive Actuation.
  9. Fungal Mycelium Films Engineered as Renewable Fibrous Materials for Drug Delivery.
  10. Nonmonotonic Dependence of Random Migration upon Density of Cells on Biomaterials.
  11. Shrinkage-transfer-assisted printing of microcircuits on fibers.
  12. Harnessing Chain Mobility via Protonation for Tough and Isotropic Hydrogel.
  13. Ion transport through reconfigurable nanoparticle-surfactant stabilized droplet interface bilayers.
  14. In Vitro Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus Translocation in 3D Printed Material.
  15. Engineering electron conduits in bacteria for selective biointerfacing and enhanced energy transfer.
  16. Engineering microbial consortia for biosynthesis: Construction, regulation, and applications.
  17. Rod-like percolation of conducting polymers via vapor-phase polymerization into cellulose nanofibril hydrogels.
  18. Autonomous Synthesis of Nanoparticles with Target Scattering Patterns.
  19. Higher-dimensional Fermiology in bulk moiré metals.
  20. Interpretable Deep Learning for Single-Molecule Nanopore Fingerprinting Using Physics-Guided Preprocessing.
  21. Interfacial Materialization Enabled by Cellulose Nanofibril Surfactants.
  22. Physically Cross-Linked Hydrogels Based on Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Gelatin for Independent Modulation of Mechanical Cues in Cell Adhesion Studies.
  23. Sequence-Modulated Active Tripeptide Condensates for Tandem Catalysis.
  24. A nutrient bottleneck controls antibiotic efficacy in structured bacterial populations.
  25. Growth order of stiff and soft domains in gels controls morphology.
  26. The hierarchical timescale hypothesis: Functional and structural convergence of biological networks and artificial neural nets.
  27. Macromolecular Condensates as Tunable Scaffolds for Bio-Inspired Silica Hybrids.
  28. Drug-controlled CAR T cells through the regulation of cell-cell interactions.
  29. Physically reconfigurable synaptic plasticity and learning in stretchable neuromorphic systems.
  30. Pichia-CLM: A language model-based codon optimization pipeline for Komagataella phaffii.
  31. Piezo1 regulates remodeling of skin-derived extracellular matrix by embedded umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in a stiffness-dependent fashion.
  32. Formulation and 3D Printing of PVDF-Containing Photocurable Resins for Digital Light Processing.
  33. Polymerization from Lipid Membranes.
  34. Fluid flow and environmental geometry guide the journey of swimming bacteria.
  35. Enhanced screening via a pure DNA-encoded peptide library enabled by an Fmoc modification.
  36. Strain-Induced Detectivity Enhancement in Intrinsically Stretchable Organic Photodetectors.
  37. Bio-Inspired Design of Quasi-Ordered Structural Color via Stress-Driven Reconfiguration Enables Ultra-Secure and Scalable Unclonable Application.
  38. Catalytic Wiring of Enzymatic Cascades Using ROS-Flux-Regulated Biodegradable Borophene.
  39. Oxidation-degradable resins for 3D-printing of cell-responsive biomaterials.
  40. Limonene as a Renewable Platform Molecule: Chemical Modifications and Polymerization Strategies toward Advanced Materials.
  41. Harnessing evolution: leveraging bacterial isoprenoid pathway diversity toward improved bioengineering strategies.
  42. Super-sticky feet help a robot to climb the walls.
  43. Photodegradable Hydrogels for On-Demand Modeling of Age-Related Spatiotemporal ECM Deformation.
  44. Janus Nanofiber Membranes for Wearable Electronics: Integrated Conductivity, Unidirectional Water Transport, and Multimodal Responsiveness.
  1. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2026 Feb 20. e6873420
    Synthetic Microbial Ecosystems for Stable Flow Biocatalysis.
    Chun-Yan Fang, Nan-Nan Deng.
      Constructing living materials with microbial consortia represents an emerging approach for creating life-like functional systems; however, the spatiotemporal orchestration of the activities across diverse species remains a major challenge. Yu et al. address this with a 3D-printable hydrogel matrix that embeds phase-separated aqueous microdroplets for microbial compartmentalization, enabling sustained biocatalysis under continuous flow (https://doi.org/10.1002/anov.70015).
    Keywords:  3D printing; biocatalysis; living materials; microbial consortia; microdroplets
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.6873420
  2. Adv Mater. 2026 Feb 17. e15925
    Functional Biomaterials Through Biocooperation.
    Cosimo Ligorio, Alvaro Mata.
      There is a growing need to develop materials that can recreate the inherent structural and functional complexity of living systems. These environments are increasingly needed both in vitro to better screen drugs and therapies, and in vivo to overcome key challenges of regenerative medicine that continue to limit broad impact in the clinic. In this perspective, we argue that it is time to go beyond bioinspiration and design materials by working with biological and regenerative mechanisms that Nature has evolved and established. In this biocooperative approach, biology is not seen as a template to copy, but rather as a partner to engage with, by harnessing biomolecules and biological mechanisms as building-blocks and fabrication processes of materials. The manuscript also summarizes studies describing the use of recombinant technologies to produce biomolecules as material building-blocks, incorporating living systems within synthetic matrices to create engineered living biomaterials, and integrating synthetic building blocks with cellular processes to produce regenerative materials. These examples illustrate the potential for a new biocooperative material paradigm, opening the door for more accessible and functional personalized biomaterials.
    Keywords:  advanced materials; biocooperation; regenerative medicine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202515925
  3. ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2026 Feb 17.
    Agitation-Driven Fusion Fabrication of Macroscopic Cell-Laden Cryogels.
    Aram Bahmani, Evan Johnston, Weiyi Wan, Xuan Li, Guangyu Bao, Jianyu Li.
      Fabricating macroscopic tissue scaffolds that replicate native architecture, mechanics, and cellular density remains challenging. Here, we present a scalable, modular approach that combines agitation-driven assembly with fibrin-mediated fusion to produce centimeter-scale, cell-laden scaffolds with uniformly distributed, high-density cells and improved mechanical performance. The constructs are freestanding and mechanically more robust than monolithic hydrogels, while confocal imaging confirms deep, homogeneous cell penetration and high viability throughout centimeter-scale volumes. By overcoming tradeoffs among scaffold size, cell density, and mechanical integrity, this strategy provides a facile, versatile biofabrication platform for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and disease modeling.
    Keywords:  Agitation; Biofabrication; Cryogels; Fibrin; Tissue scaffolds
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsabm.5c02235
  4. ACS Polym Au. 2026 Feb 11. 6(1): 226-245
    Blended and Microparticle Composite Hyaluronan Hydrogels with Programmable Degradation through Selective Oxidation.
    Melanie Grimm, Fiona Ye Rojo Acero, Fatemeh Safari, Desiré Venegas-Bustos, Andreas Wagner, Clara Presciutti, Wen Chen, Matteo D'Este, Jacek K Wychowaniec.
      The design space of hydrogels for biomedical applications embraces a wide variety of parameters that can be tuned through chemical modification. Among them, tissue adhesion and viscoelastic properties contribute to the integration of tissue-engineered constructs with native tissues, while the degradation profile determines their temporal evolution and cell invasion. Selective 1,2-diol oxidation is a versatile tool to control all of these properties in polysaccharide-based hydrogels by generating aldehyde groups. A key challenge in implementing this tool is that although aldehyde groups improved adhesion, they also promoted chain fragmentation, demanding a trade-off. To address this, we devised a strategy that leverages the adhesiveness of oxidized biopolymers together with the mechanical stability of their nonoxidized counterparts. Here, we synthesized tyramine-modified hyaluronan (THA) and its oxidized form (oTHA) and evaluated their degradation and adhesion in various combinations and formats, including blended hydrogels and hydrogel microparticle composite networks. As the degree of oxidation increased in oTHA, its molecular weight decreased, the storage modulus of the resulting hydrogels slightly declined, brittleness increased, and physical degradation accelerated. These opposing properties were finely offset in two-component blended hydrogels; increasing the oTHA content proportionally accelerated the degradation rate in both bulk and hydrogel microparticle composite formats while maintaining consistent viscoelastic properties and network topology at a fixed total polymer concentration. By adjusting the oTHA-to-THA ratio, we generated composite hydrogels with two distinct degradation behaviors: (i) collapse-type mode, where blended hydrogels gradually softened and spread without fragmenting; and (ii) fragmentation-type mode, where hydrogel microparticle composites abruptly broke into discrete pieces over degradation time. This tunability enables the design of a new class of composite soft biomaterials with programmable degradation. Such materials show potential for tunable tissue engineering strategies, which could be implemented for controlling cell invasion, migration, and proliferation in biological applications.
    Keywords:  degradation; hydrogels; molecular weight; oxidation; tyramine-modified hyaluronan
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acspolymersau.5c00129
  5. Adv Mater. 2026 Feb 21. e22623
    Fatigue Resistant Hydrogels Engineered With Twisting Hierarchical Structures.
    Yinghui Feng, Yafei Wang, Chang Wang, Xingmei Chen, Liangjie Shan, Runyi Yan, Zongbao Wang, Sicong Liu, Ji Liu.
      Hydrogels hold significant potential for soft robotics and biomedical applications due to their high-water content, tissue-like softness, and biocompatibility, yet their practical utility remains limited by poor fatigue resistance during long-term dynamic loading. Here, we present a twisting strategy that enhances hydrogel materials' mechanical durability through bioinspired torsion methodology, enabling efficient load transfer and energy dissipation. The resulting fibers exhibit improved tensile strength, stretchability, and unprecedented fatigue thresholds while maintaining structural integrity across prolonged cycling. Our strategy is also compatible with various hydrogel systems including poly(vinyl alcohol), alginate, cellulose and corresponding composite systems. This approach benefits from multiscale simulations, revealing that moderate twisting promotes uniform stress distribution through inter-fiber sliding, while excessive twisting causes geometric locking. Proof-of-concept demonstrations include a frog-tongue-inspired actuator showing rapid yet reversible motion under high-frequency cycling, highlighting its exceptional fatigue tolerance. This bioinspired architecture establishes a universal design paradigm for fatigue-resistant hydrogel systems, unlocking their potential in demanding applications from implantable medical devices to adaptive soft robotics.
    Keywords:  bioinspired; fatigue resistance; hierarchical structure; hydrogels; twisting
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202522623
  6. Mater Today Bio. 2026 Apr;37 102895
    4D morphogenetic tissue engineering via gradient-crosslinked microporous hydrogel scaffolds.
    Haitao Yu, Guodong Wu, Jian Zhang.
      Shape-morphing hydrogels offer great promise for 4D tissue engineering by enabling dynamic scaffolds that recapitulate morphogenetic transformations. However, their densely crosslinked networks often restrict mass transport, nutrient diffusion, and extracellular matrix remodeling, limiting tissue development. Here, we present a strategy to engineer microporous gradient hydrogels with programmable shape morphing for 4D tissue engineering. Gradient network densities were generated through light-attenuation-mediated photocrosslinking, while interconnected micropores were introduced using sacrificial gelatin microspheres (GMSs). The resulting internal stress mismatch induced differential swelling, enabling controlled shape transformations. By tuning GMS content, photocrosslinking time, and construct geometry, precise control over microporosity, mechanical stiffness, swelling, and deformation behavior was achieved. The constructs supported high cell viability and maintained deformability after cell encapsulation. Complex 3D shapes with varied curvature profiles were readily realized by modulating gradient direction and range. As a proof of concept, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-laden constructs were osteogenically differentiated for four weeks to form bone-like tissues. The gradient constructs retained stable curved configurations, and GMS incorporation markedly enhanced alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium deposition compared to nonporous controls. This study establishes a versatile and tunable platform for creating microporous gradient hydrogels with spatiotemporal morphing capabilities, offering a new route for developing dynamic, cell-instructive scaffolds in 4D tissue engineering.
    Keywords:  4D fabrication; Gradient; Hydrogel; Microporosity; Tissue engineering
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtbio.2026.102895
  7. Sci Adv. 2026 Feb 20. 12(8): eaec8383
    Conformation-programmed DNA computing.
    Qian Ling, Bozhao Li, Yuhua Feng, Jing Yang, Shi'an Wang, Suping Li, Cheng Zhang.
      Natural biological systems achieve precise cellular control through multidimensional signaling architectures that integrate sequence specificity, structural dynamics, and conformational switching. While synthetic DNA networks have been engineered primarily using sequence programmability, exclusive reliance on this dimension constrains signaling range and integrated regulation. Here, we report an allosteric DNA computing framework enabling the simultaneous integration of sequence programmability with conformational dynamics for integrated multilevel signal processing. By encoding conformational signals within polythymidine loops (0 to 40 nucleotides), this system executes loop-dependent logic operations with expanded signaling ranges. Moreover, catalytic allosteric hairpin assemblies achieve ~30-fold signal amplification with enhanced signal-to-noise ratios. Concurrently, allosteric DNA neural networks discriminate conformational signals based on loop lengths (7 to 15 nucleotides) at two-nucleotide resolution. Crucially, microRNA-responsive versions of this framework regulate gene expression, thereby bridging conformational signaling with genetic control regulations in vivo. Collectively, this work establishes a conformational signal-processing paradigm for adaptive DNA computing, paving the way for advanced synthetic biology and precision therapeutics.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec8383
  8. Acta Biomater. 2026 Feb 17. pii: S1742-7061(26)00110-8. [Epub ahead of print]
    Modulation of Peptidoglycan Crosslink Network in Escherichia coli Enhances Water-Responsive Actuation.
    Jonathan W Sun, Chengyu Sun, Seungri Kim, Nada Haq-Siddiqi, Zara Hedaya, Xi Chen, Jin Kim Montclare.
      Peptidoglycan (PG), the primary load-bearing component of bacterial cell envelopes, is a bio-derived material whose mechanical and hydration properties are central to microbial viability and their environmental responsiveness. PG has been increasingly recognized as a scalable water-responsive (WR) material, capable of converting chemical potential gradients from ambient changes in relative humidity (RH) directly into mechanical work. In this study, we leverage stress-induced PG remodeling pathways in a BB-3 Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain to modulate the architecture of its PG sacculus for enhanced WR performance. Under arabinose-deprived conditions (-Ara), BB-3 PG exhibits a twofold increase in the ratio of crosslinked-to-linear muropeptide stems and a threefold rise in the relative abundance of ③-③ (mDap-mDap) linkages relative to an arabinose-rich (+Ara) control. When responding to RH changes between 10% and 90% RH, these molecular-level modifications translated into a fivefold increase in WR actuation energy density (623.0 kJ/m³) with rapid response times on the order of seconds (τd: 1.8 s, τh: 0.7 s). The remodeled PG also displays a significant increase in stiffness (E: 8.9 GPa at 10% RH) and an 8% greater uptake of water, driving the PG matrix to generate twofold higher WR strain (ε: 30.2%). The observed increases in water retention and WR behavior of E. coli PG may also carry intriguing evolutionary implications, reflecting adaptive strategies microbes take to restructure PG layers and survive under microenvironmental nutrient scarcity. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Current testing of water responsive (WR) engineered living materials (ELMs) has largely overlooked bacterial species other than Bacillus subtilis. Our work addresses this gap by demonstrating that the peptidoglycan (PG) sacculus of Escherichia coli also exhibits robust WR properties. Through leveraging a combination of genetic and environmental factors during the organism's growth phase, we demonstrate that these properties can be rationally improved to yield enhanced actuator materials. By establishing a connection between PG crosslinking architecture and emergent mechanical and hydration dynamics, we present a promising approach to engineer dynamic and sustainable ELMs that can be employed as active components in high-performance actuators.
    Keywords:  Escherichia coli, arabinose induction; actuators; bio-derived materials; biological systems engineering; nanoconfined water; peptidoglycan; water-responsive materials
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2026.02.028
  9. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2026 Feb 15.
    Fungal Mycelium Films Engineered as Renewable Fibrous Materials for Drug Delivery.
    Khorshid Kamguyan, Loes van Dam, Marta Rubio-Huertas, Juliane Fjelrad Christfort, Laura de Vittorio, Lasse Højlund Eklund Thamdrup, Leonie Johanna Jahn, Morten Bo Søndergaard Svendsen, Morten Otto Alexander Sommer, Anja Boisen.
      Sustainable materials are increasingly relevant in drug delivery technologies. Food-grade fungal mycelium, already widely consumed as part of the human diet, offers a renewable source of fibrous substrates. Here, we report mycelium films from Rhizopus oligosporus as a naturally derived biomaterial for use in oral drug delivery. R. oligosporus mycelium films were produced using solid-state cultivation, yielding porous, mechanically compliant structures that could be shaped into defined 3D geometries through micro-cutting and template-guided growth. These films accommodated small-molecule drug cargo and particulate formulations, acting either as passive carrier matrices or as structured interfaces that enabled modulation of drug release behavior in model systems. Biological interactions were evaluated using in vitro cell models and short-term in vivo gastrointestinal transit studies in rats, where no cytotoxic effects or abnormal passage were observed under the tested conditions. Together, these findings demonstrate the potential of mycelium films as sustainable, shape-malleable fibrous materials with tunable functional properties for future applications in oral drug delivery.
    Keywords:  biobased materials; controlled release; microfabrication; porous materials; sustainability
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c24189
  10. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2026 Feb 19.
    Nonmonotonic Dependence of Random Migration upon Density of Cells on Biomaterials.
    Runjia Shen, Ziyue Zhang, Jiaqi Li, Jiandong Ding.
      Cell migration is a basic biological process essential for physiological homeostasis and disease pathogenesis. It is interesting that random migration of a cell on an extracellular matrix or a biomaterial obeys the diffusion equation of Brownian particles proposed by Einstein in 1905, from which diffusivity can be used to quantify the migration rate. While the complexity of density dependence of diffusivity has been pointed out for cells, a function simply relating migration rate to cell density has never been reported. Herein we show that, unlike the diffusion of an abiotic particle, the migration rate of a living cell changes with cell density nonmonotonically, and a quantitative relation between migration rate and cell density is established by us, resulting in a product equation. The term dmax, namely, cell density for the fastest migration, is further defined and justified based on both real-time observations of cells and Monte Carlo simulations of model "living particles". The maximum migration rate is interpreted by the combination of volume-exclusion and autocrine effects, representing physical and biological effects, respectively. The regulation works universally across different cell types, culture media, and biomaterial surfaces examined by us, while the concrete values of dmax depend on these conditions. This fundamental study is helpful for understanding dynamic cell behaviors under material microenvironments and for the design of advanced biomaterials for tissue regeneration or drug carriers.
    Keywords:  Monte Carlo simulation; biomaterial surface; brownian motion; cell migration; nanopattern; polymer physics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c25150
  11. Nat Commun. 2026 Feb 17.
    Shrinkage-transfer-assisted printing of microcircuits on fibers.
    Jiongke Jin, Mei Zou, Deyu Liu, Haoxuan Ma, Yingying Zhang.
      Fiber represents a transformative architecture for next-generation wearable electronics, owing to its intrinsic flexibility, spatial compactness, and manufacturing adaptability. However, the geometric incompatibility between curved fiber substrates and conventional planar photolithography/printing techniques has hindered the fabrication of high-density microcircuits on fibers. Here, we introduce a shrinkage-transfer-assisted printing (STAP) strategy that bridges 2D planar circuit fabrication and 1D fiber device construction by shrinking fluidic eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) circuits and transferring them onto curved fiber surfaces. This approach achieves a shrinkage ratio of up to 80% with a resolution of 60 μm via scalable screen printing, and employs a capillary-driven transfer process to realize 360° conformal coverage of circuits on fibers. The resulting fiber devices exhibit mechanical robustness over 16,000 bending cycles. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate an electroluminescent fiber display system with individually addressable pixels. This work provides a versatile strategy for manufacturing microcircuits on curved fiber surfaces, opening a route toward scalable and multifunctional fiber electronics.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69640-5
  12. Adv Mater. 2026 Feb 18. e17407
    Harnessing Chain Mobility via Protonation for Tough and Isotropic Hydrogel.
    Pengju Shi, Muqing Si, Zishang Lin, Qian Mao, Sidi Duan, Zixiao Liu, Wen Hong, Mason Possinger, Yichen Yan, Chi Chen, Ping He, Xiaobing Zuo, Hua Zhou, Adri van Duin, Ximin He.
      Fabricating hydrogels with isotropically high tensile strength, stretchability, and toughness is crucial for applications in tissue engineering, stretchable bioelectronics and soft robots. However, many toughening strategies, including mechanical training, directional freezing, and solvent exchange, often induce anisotropy or fail to enhance all these metrics simultaneously. Herein, we report a strategy to fabricate ultra-tough, isotropic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels by synergistically modulating polymer chain mobility and physical crosslinking through sequential acidification, freeze-thawing, and salting-out. Acidification protonates the hydroxyl groups, suppressing premature interchain hydrogen bonding and promoting network homogenization. Subsequent salting-out deprotonates the hydroxyl groups to strengthen the interpolymer hydrogen bonds, forming crystalline domains that act as strong, reversible physical crosslinks. The resulting hydrogel achieves a high tensile strength of 29.5 MPa, stretchability of 2683%, and record-high toughness of 424 MJ m-3 among isotropic hydrogels, even surpassing most anisotropic hydrogels in their reinforced direction. This strategy offers a generalizable platform for engineering tough, isotropic hydrogels with broad potential across bioengineering, additive manufacturing, and soft robotics.
    Keywords:  acidification; hydrogen bonding; poly(vinyl alcohol); salting out; tough hydrogel
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202517407
  13. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Feb 24. 123(8): e2522349123
    Ion transport through reconfigurable nanoparticle-surfactant stabilized droplet interface bilayers.
    Xuefei Wu, Han Xue, Zachary Fink, Zhiqin Xia, Nivedina A Sarma, Xuchen Gan, John Katsaras, Peter Ercius, Behzad Rad, Brett A Helms, Paul D Ashby, Ahmad K Omar, C Patrick Collier, Thomas P Russell.
      Despite their adaptability and mechanical stability, Pickering emulsions based on the interfacial assembly of colloidal particles have not found use in iontronics, since the dense interfacial packing of micron-sized particles precludes functional connectivity between two droplets. Here, we introduce a chemically reconfigurable droplet interface bilayer (DIB) platform based on the interfacial assembly of nanoparticle-surfactants (NPSs) that enables spontaneous or field-induced formation of ion-conducting nanochannels, eliminating the need of ionophores or nanochannel-forming proteins. These nanoscopic channels emerge from packing defects in the jammed interfacial assemblies of the charged NPSs and support size and charge selective, hysteretic ion transport governed by interfacial electrostatics and dimensional constraints. The NPS-DIBs show short-term and long-term plasticity, hallmarks of neuromorphic behavior, that are mediated by the structural and chemical design of the bilayer. These assemblies establish a versatile, chemically tunable platform that couples soft-matter mechanics with interfacial ionic functionality, offering a robust foundation for soft iontronic systems.
    Keywords:  droplet interface bilayer; nanochannels; nanoparticle-surfactants; neuromorphic behavior; self-assembly
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2522349123
  14. J Biomed Mater Res A. 2026 Mar;114(3): e70050
    In Vitro Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus Translocation in 3D Printed Material.
    Ashma Sharma, Joshua Prince, A-Andrew D Jones.
      Vascular graft infection is a rare but life-threatening condition, primarily occurring after 30 days post-surgery. Meta-analysis has shown that antimicrobial coatings on graft materials do not prevent these infections. Moreover, infections still occurs even though studies have shown that there is no bacterial proliferation or bacterial penetration of common vascular graft material. The time frame of infection, meta-analysis, and in situ studies suggest that bacteria present at the suture site are introduced into the surrounding tissue or that systemically circulating bacteria may be surviving, proliferating, diffusing slowly, and evading host immune defense in synthetic vascular grafts. De novo vascular graft materials, such as tissue-engineered vascular graft material and decellularized vasculature may provide an in situ platform for studying survival, proliferation, and diffusion in tissue and tissue-like materials. In this study, we used confocal microscopy to image the penetration depth of bacteria over time as a proxy for the diffusion of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli into alginate, GelMA, and decellularized porcine vascular tissue. We quantified viable bacteria breakthrough as a function of biomaterial type. We found that the penetration depth over time was similar in all three biomaterials, however E. coli broke through much less from tissue than from engineered materials, while S. aureus had higher breakthrough in the GelMa but otherwise equal rates. These results point to the possibility of interstitial growth control relative to surface coatings as a future target for engineering infection resistance in engineered vascular grafts.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.70050
  15. iScience. 2026 Feb 20. 29(2): 114805
    Engineering electron conduits in bacteria for selective biointerfacing and enhanced energy transfer.
    Alexander R Kelly, Lorenzo Travaglini, Dominic J Glover.
      Specialized cytochrome protein complexes conduct electrons across cell membranes in electrogenic bacteria, which enables these microbes to be harnessed for applications in electrical generation, biosensing, and microbial electrosynthesis. Here, we engineer the surface-exposed MtrC subunit from the MtrCAB complex of Shewanella oneidensis to enable selective cell attachment to functional materials, including electrodes for improved bioelectricity production. Incorporating a SpyTag bioconjugation domain on MtrC enables specific covalent attachment of SpyCatcher-fused proteins to MtrCAB on S. oneidensis and Escherichia coli. Importantly, the MtrC modification does not disrupt electron export, offering opportunities to interface cells with electronic materials. In the second approach, incorporating a graphite binding sequence on MtrC improves S. oneidensis attachment to graphite electrodes, yielding 30% greater current production in a microbial electrolysis cell compared to a variant expressing unmodified MtrC. An engineerable platform on the surface of electrogenic cells creates numerous opportunities for biotic-abiotic interface manipulation.
    Keywords:  Bioengineering; microbial biotechnology
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.114805
  16. Biotechnol Adv. 2026 Feb 18. pii: S0734-9750(26)00052-2. [Epub ahead of print] 108846
    Engineering microbial consortia for biosynthesis: Construction, regulation, and applications.
    Boting Li, Weifeng Liu.
      Synthetic microbial consortia (SMCs) represent a paradigm shift from monocultures to multi-strain systems that leverage ecological interactions for enhanced environmental adaptation and bioproduction. This review systematically sorts out engineering strategies for constructing stable SMCs, focusing on three core principles regarding host selection based on obligate mutualism (e.g., auxotrophs), pathway modularization to resolve metabolic conflicts, and dynamic regulation using tools like quorum sensing and optogenetics. We demonstrate the efficacy of SMCs in diverse applications including high-value compound synthesis and lignocellulosic biomass conversion through consolidated bioprocessing and inhibitor mitigation. SMCs enabling advanced functions in engineered living materials, environmental remediation, and biomedical innovation via division of labor are also described. Despite such progress, challenges in scalability and real-time control of SMCs under industrial conditions remain. We conclude that SMCs serve to bridge evolutionary ecology and biotechnology, offering robust solutions for sustainable biomanufacturing and beyond.
    Keywords:  Bioproduction; Co-culture; Metabolic engineering; Rational construction; Synthetic microbial consortia
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2026.108846
  17. Carbohydr Polym. 2026 May 01. pii: S0144-8617(26)00065-2. [Epub ahead of print]379 124949
    Rod-like percolation of conducting polymers via vapor-phase polymerization into cellulose nanofibril hydrogels.
    Tobias Benselfelt, Noah Al-Shamery, Dace Gao, Pooi See Lee.
      Conducting polymers are essential for soft bioelectronics, but they are challenging to process into homogeneous, low-solidity hydrogels due to their poor solubility and tendency to agglomerate. Here, we utilize cellulose nanofibril (CNF) hydrogels as a percolating template for the vapor-phase assisted polymerization of conducting polymers. Pyrrole efficiently polymerizes within the hydrated CNF network, forming a conformal polypyrrole (PPy) coating that yields conductivities approaching 100 S/m and charge storage of 16 mAh/g (dry) or capacitance of 52 F/g solids at 93 wt% water content. The CNF framework induces rod-like percolation of the PPy phase, producing unusually low percolation thresholds and non-universal transport exponents. Long-aspect-ratio fibrils further enhance conductivity by increasing the number of effective junctions, and PPy stiffens the hydrogels (0.2-1.5 MPa) by locking these junctions. Glycerol could be used as the liquid phase to prevent evaporation and these gels remained conductive and dimensionally stable in air. Comparison with liquid-phase polymerization highlights that vapor delivery minimizes skin formation and enables more uniform bulk coverage. Finally, we demonstrate 2D/3D patterning and conductive filament fabrication, underscoring vapor-phase polymerization as a versatile route for soft conducting materials, electrodes, and patterned hydrogel devices.
    Keywords:  Cellulose; Conducting polymer; Hydrogel; Soft conductor; Vapor-phase
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2026.124949
  18. ACS Nano. 2026 Feb 18.
    Autonomous Synthesis of Nanoparticles with Target Scattering Patterns.
    Andy S Anker, Jonas H Jensen, Miguel González-Duque, Rodrigo Moreno, Aleksandra Smolska, Mikkel Juelsholt, Vincent Hardion, Mads R V Jørgensen, Andrés Faíña, Jonathan Quinson, Kasper Støy, Tejs Vegge.
      Controlled synthesis of materials with specified atomic structures underpins technological advances yet remains reliant on iterative, trial-and-error approaches. Nanoparticles (NPs), whose atomic arrangement dictates their emergent properties,1-5 are particularly challenging to synthesize due to numerous tunable parameters. Here, we introduce an autonomous approach that explicitly targets atomic-scale structure through scattering patterns. Our method autonomously designs synthesis protocols by matching real-time experimental total scattering (TS) and pair distribution function (PDF) data to simulated target patterns, without requiring embedded synthesis knowledge. We demonstrate this capability at a synchrotron by targeting two structurally distinct gold NP scattering patterns: 5 nm decahedral and 10 nm face-centered cubic structures. Ultimately, specifying target scattering patterns and autonomously approaching synthesis protocols that reproduce them experimentally may enable on-demand, atomic structure-informed materials design. ScatterLab thus provides a generalizable blueprint for autonomous, atomic structure-targeted synthesis across diverse systems and applications.
    Keywords:  X-ray scattering; autonomous laboratories; machine learning; nanomaterials; robotic synthesis; self-driving laboratories; synchrotrons
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c15488
  19. Nature. 2026 Feb 18.
    Higher-dimensional Fermiology in bulk moiré metals.
    Kevin P Nuckolls, Nisarga Paul, Alan Chen, Filippo Gaggioli, Joshua P Wakefield, Avi Auslender, Jules Gardener, Austin J Akey, David Graf, Takehito Suzuki, David C Bell, Liang Fu, Joseph G Checkelsky.
      In the past decade, moiré materials have revolutionized how we engineer and control quantum phases of matter1,2. They are versatile platforms for strongly correlated electronic phenomena3,4 and support new ferroelectric5,6, magnetic7 and superconducting states8. Among incommensurate materials9, moiré materials are aperiodic composite crystals10,11 whose long-wavelength superlattices enable tunable properties without chemically modifying their layers. So far, nearly all reports of moiré materials have investigated van der Waals heterostructures assembled far from thermodynamic equilibrium (T < 150 °C)1,2. Here we introduce a conceptually new approach to synthesizing high-mobility moiré materials in thermodynamic equilibrium. We report a new family of foliated superlattice materials (Sr6TaS8)1+δ(TaS2)8 that are exfoliatable, incommensurate-lattice, van der Waals crystals. Lattice mismatches between alternating layers generate moiré superlattices, analogous to 2D moiré heterobilayer superlattices, which are coherent throughout these crystals and tunable through synthesis conditions without altering their chemical composition. Quantum oscillation measurements map the complex Fermiology of these moiré metals12-14, showing that the Fermi surface of the structurally simplest moiré metal comprises more than 40 distinct cross-sectional areas. This is naturally understood by proposing that these bulk moiré metals encode electronic properties of higher-dimensional superspace crystals in ways paralleling well-established crystallographic methods for incommensurate lattices15,16. More broadly, our work demonstrates a scalable synthesis approach potentially capable of producing large-area moiré materials for electronics applications and evidences a new material design concept for accessing phenomena proposed in higher dimensions17-21.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10173-8
  20. ACS Sens. 2026 Feb 20. XXX
    Interpretable Deep Learning for Single-Molecule Nanopore Fingerprinting Using Physics-Guided Preprocessing.
    Arjav Shah, Xin Kai Lee, Kun Li, Grant A Knappe, Mark Bathe, George Barbastathis, Patrick S Doyle.
      Rapid and robust molecular fingerprinting is critical in biomanufacturing, diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. Nanopore sensing provides single-molecule readouts as transient ionic current pulses; however, conventional analyses depend on handcrafted features that miss informative structural information. We present an interpretable machine learning framework that operates directly on raw pulses, pairing a physics-guided time-frequency transform with a compact neural classifier and feature-attribution maps. We also include conventional feature-based SVMs and a 1D classifier trained on raw pulses as baselines. On two self-assembled DNA nanostructures of similar size but distinct geometry, for which standard pulse features overlap, the method achieves high accuracy and yields physically consistent attributions that highlight discriminative signal motifs. A matched control without the time-frequency transform clarifies when learned filters suffice versus when physics-guided preprocessing improves reliability, leading to a practical "custom-filter" design principle. The workflow is modular, lightweight, and applicable to pulse-based sensing platforms, including virus and exosome analysis, electrochemical monitoring, and industrial fault detection. By combining accuracy with transparency, it lays the groundwork for deployable sensing platforms in regulated, mission-critical settings.
    Keywords:  DNA nanostructures; convolutional neural networks; explainable AI; machine learning; nanopore sensing; signal processing; single-molecule fingerprinting; wavelet transform
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acssensors.5c04784
  21. Small. 2026 Feb 18. e12947
    Interfacial Materialization Enabled by Cellulose Nanofibril Surfactants.
    Jiang Liu, Danzhong Sun, Weixiao Feng, Yang Yang, Zhanpeng Wu, Shaowei Shi.
      Biphasic liquid systems, serving as platforms with spatially directing functionality, achieve the integration of bio-mass nano-building blocks into advanced materials. Using liquid-liquid interfaces, a series of assemblies based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) emerges, yet with limited application prospects, as the assemblies are mechanically fragile and thus incapable of withstanding processing-induced stresses. Here, we propose flexible cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) as alternative assembling blocks and exploit their interfacial assembly to construct functional materials. Through an interfacial co-assembly strategy, CNFs spontaneously adsorb, assemble, and entangle at the water-toluene interface, forming reinforced yet elastic interfacial multi-layers. These assemblies are robust enough to yield multi-dimensional constructs, such as 3D porous foams and 1D biocompatible filaments, with recyclable oil-water separation and promising bioengineering applications.
    Keywords:  cellulose nanofibril surfactants; filaments; foams; interfacial assembly; jamming
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202512947
  22. ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2026 Feb 18.
    Physically Cross-Linked Hydrogels Based on Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Gelatin for Independent Modulation of Mechanical Cues in Cell Adhesion Studies.
    Chen Feng, Meng Chen, Da-Hui Qu.
      Mechanical properties of biomaterials constitute a key parameter in regulating cellular responses. However, isolating the mechanical influence on cell behavior remains challenging due to the interdependent changes in chemical composition (e.g., polymer chain concentration or type, cross-linking agent, etc.) when modifying a single variable. Herein, noncovalently cross-linked hydrogels comprising poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and gelatin (GEL) with gradient mechanical strength are fabricated by controlling the total freezing-thawing repetitions applied to the PVA-GEL mixture, in which the mechanical properties of hydrogels are successfully decoupled from the chemical composition for cell adhesion studies. The L929 cells prefer the stiff PVA-GEL hydrogel surfaces over the soft ones, uncovering significant variations in cellular attachment and spreading patterns. This strategy may provide a basis for systematically investigating the contribution of specific cues to cellular adhesion processes.
    Keywords:  cell adhesion; gelatin; hydrogels; mechanical property; physical cross-linking; poly(vinyl alcohol)
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsabm.5c02492
  23. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2026 Feb 17. e17620
    Sequence-Modulated Active Tripeptide Condensates for Tandem Catalysis.
    Hao Han, Siyu Song, Jianqiang Wang, Tsvetomir Ivanov, Dongdong Zhou, Hao Su, Katharina Landfester, Shoupeng Cao.
      Biomolecular condensates formed via liquid-liquid phase separation function as dynamic organelles that are vital to regulating cellular activities. Peptide-based coacervates have emerged as appealing candidates to resemble key properties of biomolecular condensates. However, their application as adaptive organelles has been hindered by structural complexity and limited control over phase-separation. Here, we present short tripeptide coacervates with tunable phase-separation behaviors governed by composition and peptide sequence, significantly reducing molecular complexity. These tripeptide condensates exhibit enzyme-regulated phase-separation, closely mimicking the dynamic nature of biomolecular condensates. A key attractive feature of the tripeptide coacervates is their capability to sequester both hydrophobic active species and hydrophilic enzymes. This unique property enables the execution of confined tandem reactions in aqueous conditions. When incorporated into membrane-bound artificial cells, this tripeptide coacervates serve as adaptive sub-organelles, orchestrating compartmentalized catalytic cascades. This work highlights the potential of minimalistic peptide systems as functional microreactors with biomimetic and catalytic capabilities.
    Keywords:  active coacervates; cascade reaction; microreactor; short peptides; synthetic cells
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202517620
  24. Nat Commun. 2026 Feb 20.
    A nutrient bottleneck controls antibiotic efficacy in structured bacterial populations.
    Anna M Hancock, Arabella S Dill-Macky, Jenna A Moore, Catherine Day, Mohamed S Donia, Sujit S Datta.
      Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health threat. Although antibiotic activity is well studied in homogeneous liquid cultures, many infections are caused by spatially structured multicellular populations where consumption of scarce nutrients establishes strong spatial variations in their abundance. These nutrient variations have long been hypothesized to help bacterial populations tolerate antibiotics, since liquid culture studies link antibiotic tolerance to metabolic activity, and thus, local nutrient availability. Here, we test this hypothesis by visualizing cell death in structured Escherichia coli populations exposed to select nutrients and antibiotics. We find that nutrient availability acts as a bottleneck to antibiotic killing, causing death to propagate through the population as a traveling front. By integrating our measurements with biophysical theory and simulations, we establish quantitative principles that explain how collective nutrient consumption can limit the progression of this "death front," protecting a population from a nominally deadly antibiotic dose. While increasing nutrient supply can overcome this bottleneck, in some cases, excess nutrient unexpectedly promotes the regrowth of resistant cells. Altogether, this work provides a key step toward predicting and controlling antibiotic treatment of spatially structured bacterial populations, yielding biophysical insights into collective behavior and guiding strategies for effective antibiotic stewardship.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69625-4
  25. iScience. 2026 Feb 20. 29(2): 114767
    Growth order of stiff and soft domains in gels controls morphology.
    Santidan Biswas, Victor V Yashin, Alper Erturk, Anna C Balazs.
      In biology, neighboring soft and stiff domains can grow at different times, so the growth of one domain influences the subsequent growth of the next. To isolate key factors controlling this complex spatiotemporal behavior, we model gels undergoing biomimetic stepwise growth. The gel's top surface is patterned with a stiff cross, while the underlying non-patterned domains are less crosslinked and softer. At ambient pressure, if growth of the stiff cross occurs before growth of soft layers, the structure displays a concave shape; reversing the growth order yields a gel exhibiting a convex structure. The findings reveal how the shapes and properties of these heterogeneous materials co-evolve as they reach equilibrium morphologies. By increasing the hydrostatic pressure, we also isolate morphologies that remain pressure resistant. Our findings reveal an approach to control a material's geometric patterning and mechanical properties within these patterns and can provide insight into physicochemical factors affecting biological morphogenesis.
    Keywords:  Biomaterials; Materials science; Modeling in materials science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.114767
  26. Cell Syst. 2026 Feb 18. pii: S2405-4712(25)00340-0. [Epub ahead of print]17(2): 101507
    The hierarchical timescale hypothesis: Functional and structural convergence of biological networks and artificial neural nets.
    Sung Hoon Lee, Ilya Nemenman, Andre Levchenko.
      Are there general, systems-level principles guiding the evolution and design of natural or artificial sensory and signaling networks? Here, we argue that the signal transduction networks in living cells display important similarities in their organization and dynamical responses to both synaptic networks of brain cells and recent architectures of artificial neural networks. We propose that the key property of all of these networks-organization into multiple layers with hierarchically distributed timescales-is not accidental but rather reflects optimal processing of complex signaling and sensory inputs. We term this the hierarchical timescale hypothesis. We propose that the convergent evolution toward multi-step processing with "decreasing bandwidth" can also explain multiple properties of signaling networks, such as how a single input can control diverse outputs on different timescales and how noise and delay accumulation can be gracefully handled by the network.
    Keywords:  artificial neural network; hierarchical organization; multi-step processing; neuronal sensory network; signal transduction network; signaling network; synaptic network; systems-level principles; timescales
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2025.101507
  27. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2026 Feb 17. e22966
    Macromolecular Condensates as Tunable Scaffolds for Bio-Inspired Silica Hybrids.
    Protap Biswas, Lior Aram, Nitzan Livni, Roman Kamyshinsky, Nadav Elad, Michal Leskes, Assaf Gal.
      Silica-based materials are of immense functionality as their production is versatile and can accommodate a wide range of properties. Nevertheless, no synthetic system can reproduce the ability of organisms to precipitate dense silica under ambient conditions and from dilute soluble precursors, leaving a substantial gap in our understanding of silica chemistry. It is widely accepted that a key feature of biosilicification is the activity of amine-rich macromolecules, but their biomimetic use in silica synthesis currently fails to reproduce biological processes. Here, we take inspiration from some properties of biological processes and demonstrate that phase separated polyamine condensates drive the formation of hybrid silica materials. We further show that the pH of the reaction is a regulator that allows to control the architecture and composition of the silica material. These results point to the fundamental role of condensates in driving silicification from dilute aqueous environments that characterize physiological conditions. Applying these sets of rules to synthetic systems may open the road for the production of a new class of dense and biocompatible silica hybrids.
    Keywords:  Bio‐silicification; CryoEM; liquid–liquid phase separation; macromolecular condensates; nanoparticle synthesis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202522966
  28. Nat Chem Biol. 2026 Feb 19.
    Drug-controlled CAR T cells through the regulation of cell-cell interactions.
    Leo Scheller, Greta Maria Paola Giordano Attianese, Rocío Castellanos-Rueda, Raphaël B Di Roberto, Markus Barden, Melanie Triboulet, Morteza Hafezi, Sarah Ash, Sailan Shui, Elisabetta Cribioli, Patrick Reichenbach, Jimmy Maillard, Anthony Marchand, Sandrine Georgeon, Benita Wolf, Hinrich Abken, Sai Reddy, Bruno E Correia, Melita Irving.
      Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is constrained by on-target, off-tumor toxicities and cellular exhaustion because of chronic antigen exposure. CARs incorporating small-molecule controlled on- and off-switches can enhance both safety and therapeutic efficacy but their design is limited by the scarcity of nonimmunogenic protein elements responsive to nonimmunosuppressive, clinically approved drugs with favorable pharmacodynamics. Here we combine rational design and library-based optimization of a protein-protein interaction (PPI) of human origin to develop venetoclax-controlled drug-regulated off-switch PPI (DROP)-CARs. DROP-CARs enable dose-dependent release of the tumor-targeting scFv and consequent reduction in T cell binding to the tumor cell. Additionally, we present proof of concept for a dual DROP-CAR controlled by different small molecules, as well as for logic-gated synthetic receptors enabling STAT3 signaling. We demonstrate in vitro and in vivo function of DROP-CAR T cells and conclude that the approach holds promise for clinical application.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-026-02152-x
  29. Mater Horiz. 2026 Feb 17.
    Physically reconfigurable synaptic plasticity and learning in stretchable neuromorphic systems.
    Seung-Woo Lee, Kwan-Nyeong Kim, Sangjun Ma, Solji Ahn, Dongsu Choi, Min-Jun Sung, Chae-Yun Song, Jeong-Yun Sun, Tae-Woo Lee.
      Wearable electronics that use intrinsically stretchable organic neuromorphic devices offer a promising approach to achieve human-like on-device processing with a seamless human body interface. A central challenge, however, lies in achieving tunable synaptic plasticity within the neuromorphic systems for endowing task-adaptable functions for broad and versatile applications, because synaptic plasticity is typically hardwired by the structural configuration of conventional devices. Here, we present a physically reconfigurable neuromorphic transistor platform enabled by an ion-conductive adhesive elastomer (IAE) that ensures robust mechanical integration and electrolyte-gated neuromorphic operation. The IAE-gated organic neuromorphic transistors (IONTs) exhibit exceptional mechanical resilience, maintaining nearly identical electrical properties and synaptic plasticity under 50% strain and after 1000 mechanical stretching cycles in stark contrast to the conventional ion-gel-gated device, which suffers a current drop exceeding two orders of magnitude. Uniquely, by selection and assembly of the gate electrode materials that can be a stretchable carbon nanotube or a flexible gold electrode, we program the IONTs with distinct synaptic plasticity for sensory processing or learning. Utilizing the strategy, we demonstrate high-accuracy classification of handwritten digits and spoken digits using a reservoir computing framework. Our findings establish a stretchable neuromorphic platform wherein functionally distinct synaptic devices can be achieved individually through physical reconfiguration, paving the way for neuromorphic hardware for multi-functional body-conformable artificial intelligence.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1039/d5mh01319d
  30. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Feb 24. 123(8): e2522052123
    Pichia-CLM: A language model-based codon optimization pipeline for Komagataella phaffii.
    Harini Narayanan, J Christopher Love.
      The preference in synonymous codon usage-the so-called codon usage bias (CUB)-is governed by several factors such as the host organism, context and function of the gene, and the position of the codon within the gene itself. We demonstrated that this mapping can be learned from the host's genome using language models and subsequently applied for codon optimization of heterologous proteins expressed by the host. This pipeline called Pichia-Codon language model (Pichia-CLM) was applied to the industrial host organism, Komagataella phaffii. With this approach, production of heterologous proteins was enhanced up to threefold compared to their native sequences. Furthermore, Pichia-CLM consistently yielded constructs with enhanced productivity for proteins of varied complexity, compared to commercially available tools. Finally, we showed that Pichia-CLM generates sequences resembling the properties of codon usage found in the host's intrinsic host cell proteins and learned features such as avoiding negative cis-regulatory and repeat elements based on patterns in the genome data. These results show the potential of language models to unbiasedly learn patterns and design robust sequences for improved protein production.
    Keywords:  biotechnology; codon usage bias; encoder–decoder networks; genetic sequences; recombinant protein production
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2522052123
  31. Mater Today Bio. 2026 Apr;37 102883
    Piezo1 regulates remodeling of skin-derived extracellular matrix by embedded umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in a stiffness-dependent fashion.
    Fenghua Zhao, Xue Zhang, Theo Borghuis, Linda A Brouwer, Janette K Burgess, Prashant K Sharma, Martin C Harmsen.
      Cells continuously sense and adapt to the mechanical properties of their surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM), yet how human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) mechanotransduce stiffness cues in 3D ECM remains incompletely understood. This knowledge gap limits the rational design of MSC-based regenerative therapies and mechanically instructive biomaterials. Here, using ruthenium-catalyzed photocrosslinked skin-derived ECM hydrogels spanning a physiological to fibrotic stiffness range, we demonstrate that UC-MSCs exhibit distinct, stiffness-dependent remodeling strategies. Soft matrices (1.2 kPa) induced cell-mediated hydrogel contraction, medium stiffness (3.4 kPa, comparable to native skin) supported elongated cell morphology with minimal remodeling, whereas stiff matrices (17.7 kPa) kept seeded UC-MSCs rounded and induced pericellular void formation consistent with localized ECM remodeling. By decoupling geometric contraction from intrinsic ECM turnover using volume-normalized mechanical analyses, we identify the Piezo1 as a key regulator of stiffness-dependent adaptation. Piezo1 expression increased with stiffness, and its inhibition attenuated contraction in soft matrices and prevented stiffness reduction in stiff matrices, indicating that Piezo1 enables MSCs to mechanically adapt across 3D microenvironments. Analysis of matrix metalloproteinase expression revealed stiffness-dependent regulation of MMP2 and MMP14; however, their expression was only marginally affected by Piezo1 inhibition, suggesting that Piezo1 influences ECM remodeling through mechanisms beyond direct regulation of MMP expression. Together, these findings establish a mechanistic framework in which UC-MSCs adapt to 3D ECM stiffness through Piezo1-dependent mechanosensing. This work provides conceptual and practical guidance for the design of mechanically programmable biomaterials, the optimization of MSC-based regenerative strategies, and therapeutic approaches aimed at modulating pathological tissue mechanics such as fibrosis.
    Keywords:  ECM remodeling; Fibrotic environments; Mechanotransduction; Piezo1; Stiffness; UC-MSCs
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtbio.2026.102883
  32. ACS Polym Au. 2026 Feb 11. 6(1): 203-213
    Formulation and 3D Printing of PVDF-Containing Photocurable Resins for Digital Light Processing.
    Megan McGeehan, Étienne Durand-Laberge, Matthieu Gervais, Sébastien Roland, Audrey Laventure.
      Additive manufacturing of electroactive polymers offers transformative potential for flexible electronics and smart devices, yet preserving the microstructure responsible for the electroactive property during processing remains a challenge. Here, we report a digital light processing (DLP) approach formulated without any volatile organic solvent to prepare poly-(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based composites under ambient conditions, employing 1,6-hexanediol dimethacrylate (HDDMA) as a polymerizable matrix and phenylbis-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)-phosphine oxide (BAPO) as an efficient visible-light photoinitiator. Unlike conventional solvent-based methods relying on PVDF dissolution, this formulation enables direct dispersion of PVDF particles in the photocurable resin without the use of organic solvents that are typically used in the processing of PVDF. Formulation optimization enabled stable suspensions of PVDF up to 35 wt %, with rheological and optical properties leading to high-fidelity DLP printed samples. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) of cross sections of the 3D printed sample revealed uniform dispersion of PVDF-rich domains. Comprehensive characterization of the 3D printed sample using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and X-ray diffraction confirmed the retention of the pristine PVDF's semicrystalline phases postprocessing. Preprinting modification of the PVDF and postprinting modifications of the 3D printed composite were conducted to confirm this observation. For instance, solvent-precipitated PVDF with enhanced β phase fraction, which is often associated with electroactivity, was used in the formulation without phase degradation during photopolymerization and postprint annealing of the 3D printed composite provided additional phase tuning, underscoring the versatility of this approach. This work establishes DLP as a robust platform for the additive manufacturing PVDF-based composites, allowing for precise control and retention over crystalline phase content and complex architectures, potentially relevant for electroactive applications in next-generation flexible electronics.
    Keywords:  Additive manufacturing; Digital light processing; Formulation; Microstructure; PVDF; Photopolymerization
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acspolymersau.5c00113
  33. Biomacromolecules. 2026 Feb 20.
    Polymerization from Lipid Membranes.
    Alexandre L Torzynski, Dominique Grimm, Matteo Romio, Claire François-Martin, Hendrik Spanke, Gianna Wolfisberg, Margarita Staykova, Edmondo M Benetti, Eric R Dufresne.
      In living cells, lipid bilayer membranes can be asymmetrically functionalized with brush-like layers of macromolecules. Here, we describe a lipid membrane-initiated polymerization reaction for the growth of thick and dense polymer brushes directly from one side of lipid membranes. By incorporating a novel lipid-based polymerization initiator into lipid bilayers, we grew poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) brushes from supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs), and giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), via aqueous atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). We used quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) to quantify growth kinetics from SLBs and SUVs. The resulting polymer brushes were up to 70 nm thick. Growth from GUVs led to the spontaneous transformation of spheroidal vesicles into dense, bush-like networks of "strings of pearls". Broadly speaking, this approach could offer improved performance for biomedical applications and a valuable in vitro model for the biophysics of asymmetric lipid membranes.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.5c02419
  34. Cell. 2026 Feb 19. pii: S0092-8674(26)00057-7. [Epub ahead of print]189(4): 998-1000
    Fluid flow and environmental geometry guide the journey of swimming bacteria.
    Eleonora Secchi.
      In natural and artificial settings, fluid flow and hydrodynamic interactions shape how bacteria attach to surfaces and form biofilms. Tao et al. show that motile E. coli can swim upstream through microstructured environments, revealing how the interplay between geometry and flow governs invasion dynamics and suggesting design principles to prevent bacterial colonization.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.01.010
  35. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Feb 24. 123(8): e2524999123
    Enhanced screening via a pure DNA-encoded peptide library enabled by an Fmoc modification.
    Qiujin He, Yanhui Wang, Xiyuan Tang, Jianwei Zhang, Yuyu Xing, Zhaoyun Zong, Mohamed A Elhamouly, Kaixian Chen, Shiyu Chen.
      Peptide-based molecules have widespread therapeutic applications due to their potent binding affinity and relative metabolic safety. Peptide therapeutics are developed using library screening that samples a diverse chemical space within primary sequences and secondary structural conformations. DNA-encoded peptide libraries (PDELs) are ideal for the development of peptide-based therapeutics as novel building blocks, and diverse chemical modifications are easily incorporated. However, current PDEL construction is limited by precipitation-based purification, which constrains libraries to three or four building blocks in length due to decreasing quality with each synthetic step. Herein, we developed a solid-phase capture-based purification method to generate longer PDELs with increased purity. We modified the conventional Fmoc protecting group with an azido handle to introduce click chemistry for selective immobilization during purification. Using this method, we achieved >95% purity in the synthesis of a five-round PDEL that showed great efficiency in identifying high nanomolar binders against transferrin receptor protein 1. This work delivers a scalable and robust platform for generating high-quality, noncanonical peptide libraries, which marks a major breakthrough in peptide-based drug discovery.
    Keywords:  DNA-encoded library; DNA-encoded peptide library; amino protection; cell penetrating peptide; peptide screening
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524999123
  36. Adv Mater. 2026 Feb 15. e14951
    Strain-Induced Detectivity Enhancement in Intrinsically Stretchable Organic Photodetectors.
    Hyesu Jeon, Jongmin Oh, Jin-Woo Lee, Hyeong Ju Eun, Won Jung Kang, Du Hyeon Ryu, Chang Eun Song, Cheng Wang, Hyunbum Kang, Taek-Soo Kim, Jong H Kim, Seungjin Lee, Bumjoon J Kim.
      Intrinsically stretchable organic photodetectors (IS-OPDs) are essential for next-generation wearable electronics requiring both mechanical durability and reliable optical sensing. However, current performance of IS-OPDs degrades under tensile strain due to inherent trade-offs between mechanical and optoelectronic properties in photoactive layers. Here, we report the development of the IS-OPD that exhibits strain-induced detectivity (D) enhancement, enabled by designing mechanically robust and efficient bilayer-type photoactive architecture (EBL-D). Specifically, we incorporate percolated polymer donor (PD):elastomer networks at the bottom layer, which simultaneously offer excellent stretchability and efficient charge transport. Subsequently, we deposit a small-molecule acceptor layer atop the PD:elastomer layer, expanding the optical absorption range into the near-infrared region while minimizing undesirable charge recombination. The resulting IS-OPD based on the EBL-D architecture maintains high responsivity and effectively suppresses dark current under strain. Consequently, the device exhibits 1.5-fold improvement in specific detectivity from 1.9 × 1013 to 2.8 × 1013 Jones at λ = 860 nm under 75% strain, corresponding to a 1.3-fold increase in D after accounting for the enlarged photoactive area. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to experimentally demonstrate strain-induced D enhancement in stretchable OPDs.
    Keywords:  elastomers; intrinsically stretchable electronics; intrinsically stretchable organic photodetectors; polymer‐elastomer double network; strain‐induced detectivity enhancement
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202514951
  37. Adv Mater. 2026 Feb 19. e20440
    Bio-Inspired Design of Quasi-Ordered Structural Color via Stress-Driven Reconfiguration Enables Ultra-Secure and Scalable Unclonable Application.
    Xiaofeng Lin, Dan Song, Changsong Xu, Jin Peng, Daxiang Shi, Yingjuan Sun, Jiayao Chen, Cheng Wang, Dingshan Yu, Guobin Yi.
      Physically unclonable functions (PUFs) offer intrinsic security for next-generation authentication systems, yet current optical PUFs face a trilemma-simultaneously achieving high coding capacity, rapid recognition, and scalable manufacturing in one stable system. Inspired by quasi-ordered photonic structures in Thecla opisena wing scales, we report a stress-driven microstructural reconfiguration strategy that reversely emulates the natural evolution of photonic domains under mechanical constraints. By controlled imprinting of heterogeneous polymer networks comprising poly(butyl acrylate) microspheres, one can attain spatially random, structurally colored PUF patterns featuring microscopic periodicity and macroscopic disorder. Theoretical simulation reveals that manipulating stress fields in crosslinked elastomers induces stochastic microsphere rearrangements, establishing the physical origin of entropy and unclonability. The resulting mechanically-induced structural color PUF labels (MSCPLs) exhibit ultrahigh encoding capacity of 2480×480 (derived from the physical correlation length within 1800 × 1800 µm), sub-2 s recognition with 99% accuracy via a deep learning assisted strategy of hierarchical classification and dynamic database expansion, and outstanding durability (>85% pattern retention after 1000 bending cycles). Unlike conventional optical PUFs, our strategy enables large-area fabrication (10 × 10 cm) with superior environmental resilience. This bio-inspired methodology establishes a robust/scalable platform for secure identification and Internet of Things applications, bridging structural color aesthetics with advanced physical cryptography.
    Keywords:  nature inspiration; optical encryption; physical unclonable function; structural color
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202520440
  38. Small. 2026 Feb 17. e12858
    Catalytic Wiring of Enzymatic Cascades Using ROS-Flux-Regulated Biodegradable Borophene.
    Pranay Saha, Shraddha Krishnakumar, Aysenur Yardim, David Skrodzki, Adrienne Griffiths, Teresa Aditya, Dipanjan Pan.
      Two-dimensional (2D) borophene, a single-atom-thick allotrope of boron, exhibits exceptional conductivity, anisotropy, and chemical reactivity, yet very little is known about its electrochemical properties. Here, we delineate its enzymatic and electrochemical behavior under biologically relevant redox conditions. Spectroscopic and microscopic studies reveal concentration-dependent degradation of borophene by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), yielding boronic acids, confirmed by a curcumin-rosocyanine assay. Enzymatic cascades employing glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase establish borophene as both an electrocatalyst and a chemically responsive transducer, generating dual colorimetric and electrochemical outputs. Electroanalytical measurements (cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, and differential pulse voltammetry) show that borophene efficiently wires peroxidase reactions by sensitizing H2O2 detection through borophene-HRP interfaces. In contrast, glucose sensing displays diminished currents due to reactive oxygen species-mediated passivation. These results position borophene as a unique platform for catalytic wiring of enzyme cascades in which ROS flux dynamically regulates signal output, enabling transient, self-reporting biosensors and motivating stabilization strategies for long-term bioelectronic integration.
    Keywords:  borophene; electrochemical biosensing; enzymatic catalysis; glucose oxidase‐horseradish peroxidase (GOx‐HRP) cascade; reactive oxygen species (ROS)
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202512858
  39. Adv Funct Mater. 2025 Nov 20. pii: e22208. [Epub ahead of print]
    Oxidation-degradable resins for 3D-printing of cell-responsive biomaterials.
    Reinaldo L Dos Santos, Wesley Wynn, Lindsey Marquez, Ejajul Hoque, Karina A Bruce, Benjamin M Yavitt, Greg M Harris, John R Martin.
      Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has emerged as a powerful tool for rapidly generating tissue engineering constructs with complex architectures. While hydrolysis-sensitive polyesters are most commonly used to 3D print these scaffolds, once implanted, these materials often degrade prematurely before tissue regeneration is achieved. To address these limitations, this study introduces new oxidation-sensitive resins that can be 3D-printed into implants designed to selectively degrade when exposed to cell-produced reactive oxygen species (ROS). Although these ROS-triggerable polymers have shown promise for matching tissue growth with implant degradation, they have yet to be adapted into simple, low-cost formulations compatible with commercial 3D printers. Here, UV-photopolymerizable, ROS-sensitive resins were created from synthesized thioketal (TK) dithiols and commercial alkene crosslinkers. A novel small-scale screening method was developed to determine each resin's optimal concentrations of photo-initiator and inhibitor. All TK resins supported fine-detail 3D printing, exhibited negligible in vitro cytotoxicity, and displayed tunable mechanical properties and oxidative sensitivity based on their respective chemistries. Finally, 3D-printed TK scaffolds implanted subcutaneously in rats underwent significant biodegradation over 4 weeks and fostered more rapid tissue infiltration than 3D-printed polyester controls. These findings highlight the potential of oxidation-sensitive resins for creating cell-responsive, tissue-regenerating medical implants with complex architectures.
    Keywords:  3D printing; biomaterials; digital light processing; reactive oxygen species
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202522208
  40. ACS Polym Au. 2026 Feb 11. 6(1): 86-106
    Limonene as a Renewable Platform Molecule: Chemical Modifications and Polymerization Strategies toward Advanced Materials.
    Mateus Teixeira Bertão, Roniérik Pioli Vieira.
      Significant reliance on petroleum-based plastics remains due to their attractive properties and wide-ranging applications. Driven by environmental concerns, recent research has increasingly focused on utilizing naturally occurring plant-derived molecules and environmentally friendly processes for the synthesis of novel polymeric materials with adequate properties to replace petroleum-based materials. Within this context, limonene has gained unusual prominence as an abundant citrus byproduct. This terpene can be functionalized through a variety of classical organic reactions, e.g., epoxidation, (meth)-acrylation, lactam formation, and thiol-ene click chemistry, opening distinct pathways toward structurally diverse polymers. These routes span traditional radical and ionic processes, as well as coordination systems and ring-opening polymerizations. Together, they have enabled materials that range from poly-(limonene carbonates) and semiaromatic polyesters to polyethers, biobased polyamides, thermosets, and photo-cross-linkable resins suitable for 3D and 4D printing. Many of these polymers have demonstrated promising optical, mechanical, or thermal performance, although important challenges persist, particularly regarding dispersity control and the integration of recycling strategies into circular economy cycles. By bringing these developments into a single narrative, this review highlights how limonene is gradually shifting from a fragrance molecule to a versatile precursor for advanced, renewable polymeric materials.
    Keywords:  ROCOP; agroindustry byproducts; biobased polymers; circular economy; citrus; essential oil; limonene polymerization; orange peel; sustainable monomers; thiol−ene polymerization
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acspolymersau.5c00192
  41. J Bacteriol. 2026 Feb 17. e0044125
    Harnessing evolution: leveraging bacterial isoprenoid pathway diversity toward improved bioengineering strategies.
    Christine M Qabar, Bailey A Marshall, Robert Landick, Jeffery S Cox.
      Isoprenoids play vital roles in all domains of life, from beta-carotene in bacteria to heme in humans. Two distinct metabolic pathways have evolved to synthesize the critical precursor of all mature isoprenoids: the mevalonate (MEV) and the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathways. Here, we quantify the extensive inter- and intra-genus heterogeneity in the usage of these two pathways with particular emphasis on rare bacteria that encode both, or neither, pathways. Furthermore, MEP intermediates themselves have non-isoprenogenic roles that may underlie evolutionary pressures driving pathway diversification. Understanding isoprenoid biosynthesis in bacteria offers new avenues toward more sustainable engineering of economically relevant molecules in microbes.
    Keywords:  MEP; MEV; heterogeneity; isoprenoid biosynthesis; isoprenoid metabolism; isoprenoids; metabolism; microbial engineering; synthetic biology; terpenoids
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00441-25
  42. Nature. 2026 Feb 20.
    Super-sticky feet help a robot to climb the walls.
      
    Keywords:  Materials science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00513-z
  43. Small. 2026 Feb 20. e09246
    Photodegradable Hydrogels for On-Demand Modeling of Age-Related Spatiotemporal ECM Deformation.
    Felix Reul, Cédric Bergerbit, Iulia Scarlat, Teodora Piskova, Vasudha Turuvekere Krishnamurthy, Aleksandra N Kozyrina, Stacy Lok Sze Yam, Laura De Laporte, Jacopo Di Russo.
      The extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a crucial role in regulating tissue behavior through a dynamic interplay of spatial and temporal cues. Dynamic materials capable of modulating these cues at relevant scales are essential for tackling current challenges in tissue engineering and addressing fundamental biological questions. In vision research, there is a notable lack of suitable in vitro systems to study ECM dynamics. To help fill this gap, we developed an easy-to-use, photosensitive poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogel that can deform on demand to simulate ECM bulging, known as drusen, associated with the aging of the outer retina. Our findings demonstrate that variations in the size of these artificial drusen during culture impact morphometric parameters of the retinal pigment epithelium, offering new insights into its mechanical resilience to different drusen sizes. Notably, drusen formation in our system does not significantly affect the cellular actin cytoskeleton or polarity, which are often disrupted in conventional acute substrate deformation models, allowing the study of early aging before detectable pathology. In summary, we present a light-tunable hydrogel platform that enables precise spatial mimicry of ECM topographical changes, offering a promising tool for investigating the mechanobiological aspects of dynamic cell-matrix interactions.
    Keywords:  ECM; RPE; aging; epithelium; photodegradable hydrogel; topography
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202509246
  44. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2026 Feb 16.
    Janus Nanofiber Membranes for Wearable Electronics: Integrated Conductivity, Unidirectional Water Transport, and Multimodal Responsiveness.
    Longjuan Lu, Wei Xiao, Haidi Wu, Jun Yan, Longcheng Tang, Ling Wang, Wancheng Gu, Jiefeng Gao, Huaiguo Xue, Xuewu Huang.
      The simultaneous integration of high electrical conductivity, directional liquid transport, mechanical robustness, electrothermal response, and antimicrobial activity within a single material platform remains a major challenge for wearable electronics. Here, we report a hierarchically engineered Janus conductive nanofibrous composite (JCNC) membrane constructed via multiscale interfacial engineering to overcome these limitations. The asymmetric architecture consists of a superhydrophilic conductive polyurethane (PU) nanofiber layer, where polydopamine-assisted in situ growth of silver nanoparticles is further modified with cysteine to enhance hydrophilicity coupled with a hydrophobic top layer of electrospun acidified carbon nanotube (ACNTs)-embedded PU fibers. This rational design establishes continuous conductive pathways while generating a tunable wettability gradient, thereby achieving ultrahigh electrical conductivity (1214 S cm-1) and fast unidirectional water transport (9 s). The JCNC membrane further exhibits multifunctionality, including satisfactory electrothermal conversion, good electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding (102.14 dB), and broad-spectrum antibacterial efficacy against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Importantly, it retains mechanical resilience and electrical stability under repeated deformation, enabling reliable operation as a high-sensitivity strain sensor. This study establishes a generalizable interfacial design strategy for next-generation moisture-adaptive, skin-conformal, and intelligent electronic systems.
    Keywords:  EMI shielding; conductive polymer composites; electrospun nanofibers; strain sensing; unidirectional water transport
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c24720
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