Browse Topic: Biological sciences
Pharmaceutical and life sciences manufacturers are under growing pressure to compress development timelines, from discovery to commercialization, as demographic, technological and geopolitical trends increase the pace of innovation and disruption. In the face of these challenges, many pharmaceutical manufacturers are finding their traditional processes, which are often built on fragmented data and highly manual workflows, are insufficient.
Using an inexpensive electrode coated with DNA, MIT researchers have designed disposable diagnostics that could be adapted to detect a variety of diseases, including cancer or infectious diseases such as influenza and HIV.
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have optimized and 3D-printed helix structures as optical materials for Terahertz (THz) frequencies, a potential way to address a technology gap for next-generation telecommunications, non-destructive evaluation, chemical/biological sensing and more.
Wearable or implantable devices to monitor biological activities, such as heart rate, are useful, but they are typically made of metals, silicon, plastic, and glass and must be surgically implanted. A research team in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis is developing bioelectronic hydrogels that could one day replace existing devices and have much more flexibility.
Power sources used in devices found in or around biological tissue must be flexible and non-toxic, while still powerful enough to support demanding technologies such as medical devices or soft robotics. To achieve this balance, researchers at Penn State are taking inspiration from electric eels.
Every year brings new targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and genomic tests, yet far too many patients still cycle through multiple lines of treatment that don’t work, or work only briefly. Behind those statistics is a simple reality: most therapy decisions are still driven by generalized protocols and population-level evidence, not by the unique biology of each patient’s tumor. 1
In the OASYS joint project, Optoelectronic Sensors for Application-Oriented Systems for Life Sciences and Intelligent Manufacturing, Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS) is collaborating with research and industry partners to develop state-of-the-art optoelectronic sensor technologies. A key focus is given to the flagship project B1, MEMS-based Imaging in Scattering Media, which employs novel spatial light modulators (SLMs). These enable precise control of the light phase in highly scattering environments, enabling accurate wavefront correction and high-resolution imaging for biomedical diagnostics.
Dr. Mustafa Akbulut, Professor of Chemical engineering, has teamed up with Horticultural Science Professor Luis Cisneros-Zevallos to engineer longer-lasting, bacteria-free produce.
NASA has developed a novel approach for macroscale biomaterial production by combining synthetic biology with 3D printing. Cells are biologically engineered to deposit desired materials, such as proteins or metals, derived from locally available resources. The bioengineered cells build different materials in a specified 3D pattern to produce novel microstructures with precise molecular composition, thickness, print pattern, and shape. Scaffolds and reagents can be used for further control over material product. This innovation provides modern design and fabrication techniques for custom-designed organic or organic-inorganic composite biomaterials produced from limited resources.
NASA Johnson Space Center has developed the Micro-Organ Device (MOD) platform technology that serves as a drug screening system with human or animal cell micro-organs to supplement and reduce animal studies while potentially increasing the success of clinical trials. The technology was originally developed to evaluate pharmaceuticals in zero gravity to accelerate development and validation of countermeasures for humans in space as well as evaluate space and planetary stressors on a biological level.
Ioannis Michaloudis must have seemed like an unusual choice of speaker at first. Much of his talk before the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered in Dallas for the 2024 summit of the Advanced Research Projects-Energy agency was abstract. He spoke of the sky as the planet’s protective garment, floated the idea of making shade clouds from space junk, and characterized his artwork as “biomimicry of the sky.”
Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are capable of biomineralizing crystalline single domain magnetic oxides and sulfides. MTB perform this synthesis inside of well-defined chambers attached to their cell wall called magnetosomes. Magnetosomes are phospholipid vesicles which assemble in chains inside MTB and allow the magnetic oxides to align into a self-assembled bar magnet inside the bacteria. These nano-scale bar magnets allow MTB to align with the earth’s magnetic field allowing the bacteria to thrive in natural aqueous environments as they live in a microaerophilic environment called the oxic/anoxic zone. This presentation will focus on progress regarding using these bio-synthesized magnetic particles for Department of Defense applications.
Metabolic imaging is a noninvasive method that enables clinicians and scientists to study living cells using laser light, which can help them assess disease progression and treatment responses. But light scatters when it shines into biological tissue, limiting how deeply it can penetrate and hampering the resolution of captured images.
A fiber sensor inspired by the shape of DNA, developed by researchers at Shinshu University, introduces a new design for more durable, flexible fiber sensors in wearables. Traditional fiber sensors have electrodes at both ends, which often fail under repeated movement when placed on body joints. The proposed double-helical design, however, places both electrodes on one end, allowing the sensor to endure repeated stretching and movement, effectively addressing a key limitation of conventional wearable sensors.
Mini organs are incomplete without blood vessels. To facilitate systematic studies and ensure meaningful comparisons with living organisms, a network of perfusable blood vessels and capillaries must be created — in a way that is precisely controllable and reproducible. A team has established a method using ultrashort laser pulses to create tiny blood vessels in a rapid and reproducible manner. Experiments show that these vessels behave just like those in living tissue. Liver lobules have been created on a chip with great success.
Researchers from the Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) interdisciplinary research group of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, in collaboration with Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) and MIT, have developed a groundbreaking near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent nanosensor capable of simultaneously detecting and differentiating between iron forms — Fe(II) and Fe(III) — in living plants.
Southwest Research Institute is working to expand software normally used to model electrolytes and predict corrosion and turn it into a tool that can help determine whether ice-covered worlds have the right conditions for microbial life. The project is supported by NASA’s Habitable Worlds program, which seeks to use knowledge of the history of the Earth and the life upon it as a guide for determining the processes and conditions that create and maintain habitable environments.
Metabolic imaging is a noninvasive method that enables clinicians and scientists to study living cells using laser light, which can help them assess disease progression and treatment responses. But light scatters when it shines into biological tissue, limiting how deeply it can penetrate and hampering the resolution of captured images.
Optical sensors serve as the backbone of numerous scientific and technological endeavors, from detecting gravitational waves to imaging biological tissues for medical diagnostics. These sensors use light to detect changes in properties of the environment they’re monitoring, including chemical biomarkers and physical properties like temperature. A persistent challenge in optical sensing has been enhancing sensitivity to detect faint signals amid noise.
Researchers from Skoltech and the University of Texas at Austin have presented a proof-of-concept for a wearable sensor that can track healing in sores, ulcers, and other kinds of chronic skin wounds, even without the need to remove the bandages. The paper was published in the journal ACS Sensors.
The Earth’s biosphere is the most sophisticated complex adaptive system known to exist in the entire universe and has persisted for over 4 billion years. A complex adaptive system is a network of interacting adaptive systems whose nonlinear dynamics and emergent behaviors are difficult to predict and control; therefore, for such systems, past performance is no guarantee of future results, which is particularly the case for the Earths biosphere during a period of exponential technological growth.
Biosensors are devices that can monitor physiological states, like heart rate or blood pressure, or detect biological parameters such as glucose levels or the presence of specific proteins in the blood. The information biosensors collect can be used to support a medical diagnosis (for instance, a specific infection) or to provide feedback to the user on parameters of interest (for instance, the number of calories burned in a workout).
In creating a pair of new robots, Cornell researchers cultivated an unlikely component: fungal mycelia. By harnessing mycelia’s innate electrical signals, the researchers discovered a new way of controlling “biohybrid” robots that can potentially react to their environment better than their purely synthetic counterparts.
Researchers at University of Galway have developed a way of bioprinting tissues that change shape as a result of cell-generated forces, in the same way that it happens in biological tissues during organ development.
In a world grappling with a multitude of health threats — ranging from fast-spreading viruses to chronic diseases and drug-resistant bacteria — the need for quick, reliable, and easy-to-use home diagnostic tests has never been greater. Imagine a future where these tests can be done anywhere, by anyone, using a device as small and portable as your smartwatch. To do that, you need microchips capable of detecting minuscule concentrations of viruses or bacteria in the air.
A team has developed new biosensors with which the ratio of NADPH to NADP+ can be measured in living cells in real time for the first time. The team’s observations provide new insights into the evolution of the most important protective function of cells, cellular detoxification. NADP is involved in many reactions in the cell in which electrons are transferred between different substances.
A Dartmouth-led research team set out to determine if managing green roof soil microbes could boost healthy urban soil development, a methodology that could be applied to support climate resilience in cities.
A new handheld, sound-based diagnostic system can deliver precise results in an hour with a mere finger prick of blood. The researchers used tiny particles they call functional negative acoustic contrast particles (fNACPs) and a custom-built, handheld instrument or acoustic pipette that delivers sound waves to the blood samples inside.
The development of neural networks to create artificial intelligence in computers was originally inspired by how biological systems work. These ‘neuromorphic’ networks, however, run on hardware that looks nothing like a biological brain, which limits performance. Now, researchers from Osaka University and Hokkaido University plan to change this by creating neuromorphic ‘wetware.’
Researchers have developed a fully embedded wireless brain neural signal recorder. The device was created by Prof. Jang Kyung-in of the department of robotics and mechanical electronics at DGIST in collaboration with a research team led by Lee Young-jeon of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology.
A team has developed a general, modular strategy for designing sensors that can be easily adapted to various target molecules and concentration ranges. The new modular sensor has the potential to significantly accelerate the development of new diagnostic tools for research.
Researchers and engineers at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center have developed a prototype system for decontaminating military combat vehicles. U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) is paving the way and helping the Army transform into a multi-domain force through its modernization and priority research efforts that are linked to the National Defense Strategy and nation's goals. CBC continues to lead in the development of innovative defense technology, including autonomous chem-bio defense solutions designed to enhance accuracy and safety to the warfighter.
A silicone membrane for wearable devices is more comfortable and breathable thanks to better-sized pores made with the help of citric acid crystals. The new preparation technique fabricates thin, silicone-based patches that rapidly wick water away from the skin. The technique could reduce the redness and itching caused by wearable biosensors that trap sweat beneath them. The technique was developed by bioengineer and professor Young-Ho Cho and his colleagues at KAIST and reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
University of California – San Diego San Diego, CA
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) is paving the way and helping the Army transform into a multi-domain force through its modernization and priority research efforts that are linked to the National Defense Strategy and nation’s goals. CBC continues to lead in the development of innovative defense technology, including autonomous chem-bio defense solutions designed to enhance accuracy and safety to the warfighter.
Brain-machine interfaces enable direct communication between a brain’s electrical activity and an external device such as a computer or a robotic limb that allows people to control machines using their thoughts. Researchers have developed a novel biohybrid neuroprosthetic research platform comprised of a dexterous artificial hand electrically interfaced with biological neural networks.
Wearable devices that use sensors to monitor biological signals can play an important role in health care. These devices provide valuable information that allows providers to predict, diagnose, and treat a variety of conditions while improving access to care and reducing costs.
University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT
Ultrasound imaging and ultrasound-mediated gene and drug delivery are rapidly advancing diagnostic and therapeutic methods; however, their use is often limited by the need for microbubbles, which cannot transverse many biological barriers due to their large size. A team of researchers from Rice University have introduced 50-nm gas-filled protein nanostructures derived from genetically engineered gas vesicles(GVs) that are referred to as 50 nmGVs.
Borophene is more conductive, thinner, lighter, stronger, and more flexible than graphene, the 2D version of carbon. Now, researchers have made the material potentially more useful by imparting chirality — or handedness — on it, which could make for advanced sensors and implantable medical devices. The chirality, induced via a method never before used on borophene, enables the material to interact in unique ways with different biological units such as cells and protein precursors.
Improvements in trace biological molecule detection can have significant impact on healthcare, food safety, and environmental safety industries. Detection of trace biological molecules can be critical to the diagnosis of early onset of diseases or infections. Researchers at NASA Ames Research Center developed an electrochemical, bead-based biological sensor based on Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) combining a magnetic concentration of signaling molecules and electrochemical amplification using wafer-scale fabrication of microelectrode arrays.
Nanosensors are transforming the field of disease detection by offering unprecedented sensitivity, precision, and speed in identifying biomarkers associated with various health conditions. These tiny sensors, often built at the molecular or atomic scale, can detect minute changes in biological samples, enabling the early diagnosis of diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases, and neurological disorders.
In nature, many organisms like octopuses with their flexible tentacles or elephants with their trunks, exhibit remarkable dexterity. Inspired by these natural structures, researchers aim to develop highly flexible continuum robots that offer robustness and safety. Ideally, a continuum robot is characterized by many degrees of freedom (DOFs) and the number of joints, more than needed for most tasks. These characteristics allow them to adjust and modify their shape dynamically, enabling them to avoid obstacles and unexpected situations. However, their complex movements make it difficult to characterize their shape and motion.
Researchers at Tufts School of Engineering have developed a method to detect bacteria, toxins, and dangerous chemicals in the environment with a biopolymer sensor that can be printed like ink on a wide range of materials — including wearables.
For many patients waiting for a donor heart, the only way to live a decent life is with the help of a pump attached directly to their heart. This pump requires about as much power as a TV, which it draws from an external battery via a seven-millimeter-thick cable. The system is handy and reliable, but it has one big flaw: despite medical treatment, the point at which the cable exits the abdomen can be breached by bacteria.
Scientists have taken a significant step toward the development of tailor-made chiral nanocarriers with controllable release properties. These nanocarriers, inspired by nature’s helical molecules like DNA and proteins, hold immense potential for targeted drug delivery and other biomedical applications.
Sustainability remains a dominant trend in packaging and processing, continuing to attract the attention of the life sciences industry and inspire its new initiatives. Although pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers must prioritize patient safety and product protection, concerns about climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, plastic waste, and pressure to move toward a circular economy are prompting a greater focus on improving the sustainability of their products and packaging.
Engineers are increasingly eager to develop robots that mimic the behavior of animals and biological organisms, whose adaptability, resilience, and efficiency have been refined over millions of years of evolution.
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