Biomedical engineering articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Branched ionizable lipids have aroused great interest for mRNA delivery. Here, the authors devise an in situ construction method for combinatorial synthesis of degradable branched ionizable lipids and summarize key design criteria to enable potent delivery of mRNA therapeutics and gene editors.

    • Xuexiang Han
    • , Junchao Xu
    •  & Michael J. Mitchell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Conventional staining of post-mortem samples can be affected by several factors, including tissue autolysis. Here, the authors demonstrate a virtual staining tool using a trained neural network to turn autofluorescence images of label-free autopsy tissue into brightfield equivalent images.

    • Yuzhu Li
    • , Nir Pillar
    •  & Aydogan Ozcan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A knowledge gap persists between machine learning developers and clinicians. Here, the authors show that the Advanced Data Analysis extension of ChatGPT could bridge this gap and simplify complex data analyses, making them more accessible to clinicians.

    • Soroosh Tayebi Arasteh
    • , Tianyu Han
    •  & Sven Nebelung

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Loss of communication between the brain and the body severely impacts the sensorimotor abilities of disabled individuals. Here, the authors design and test a neuroscience-driven framework for advancing bionic devices that leverages biomimetic stimulation to induce physiologically plausible information flow in animals and enhances patient performance with neuroprostheses.

    • Giacomo Valle
    • , Natalija Katic Secerovic
    •  & Stanisa Raspopovic

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The assembly of oligopeptide and polypeptide molecules can reconstruct various ordered advanced structures. Here the authors develop a “molecular velcro”-inspired amphiphilic supramolecular co-assembly strategy, which improves the mechanical strength and cartilaginous regeneration efficiency through conformation transition.

    • Chengkun Zhao
    • , Xing Li
    •  & Yong Sun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vascularization remains a significant challenge in organoid technology. Here, the authors develop a microfluidic platform that enhances organoid growth, function and maturation, by establishing functional perfusable vascular networks.

    • Clément Quintard
    • , Emily Tubbs
    •  & Xavier Gidrol

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors develop perfusable inner blood-retinal barrier-specific microvascular networks with human primary retinal microvascular cells. They show that chronic diabetic stimulation leads to the generation of early hallmarks of diabetic retinopathy, including pericyte and capillary dropout, ghost vessels, and inflammation.

    • Thomas L. Maurissen
    • , Alena J. Spielmann
    •  & Héloïse Ragelle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tissue adhesives have received significant interest for their clinical utility but are typically incompatible with advanced manufacturing methods. Here, the authors introduce a 3D printable tissue adhesive for the fabrication of patches and devices for diverse biomedical applications.

    • Sarah J. Wu
    • , Jingjing Wu
    •  & Xuanhe Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aerogels are suitable for soft tissue engineering, but often come with brittleness. Here the authors develop a hybrid aerogel with micro- and nanofiber networks that optimizes tensile moduli and fracture energies and show that these materials are super-elastic, fostering rapid tissue ingrowth and allowing minimally invasive procedures.

    • S. M. Shatil Shahriar
    • , Alec D. McCarthy
    •  & Jingwei Xie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Encoding and downsampling images is key for visual prostheses. Here, the authors show that an actor-model framework using the inherent computation of the retinal network yields better performance in downsampling images compared to learning-free methods.

    • Franklin Leong
    • , Babak Rahmani
    •  & Diego Ghezzi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Handheld robots are limited in controllable degrees of freedom, which can result in lower dexterity for clinical applications. Here, Wang et al. report a handheld time-share driven robot with one motor that powers multiple motion modules for high-dextrous operation.

    • Yunjiang Wang
    • , Xinben Hu
    •  & Haoran Jin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The efficacy of drug-eluting stents remains limited due to delayed reendothelialization, impaired intimal remodeling, and potentially increased late restenosis. Here the authors propose a one-produces-multi stent coating, a drug-free strategy that supports in situ healing of vascular tissues, as demonstrated in rabbit and porcine models.

    • Haoshuang Wu
    • , Li Yang
    •  & Yunbing Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adipose stem cells are promising therapeutic agents in tissue regeneration. Here the authors develop a lipid nanoparticle/RNA engineering platform to enhance the protein production of these cells, which demonstrate superior healing efficacy in a mouse model of diabetic cutaneous wounds.

    • Yonger Xue
    • , Yuebao Zhang
    •  & Yizhou Dong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is an unmet medical need for the detection and treatment of early adenomas to prevent their progression to malignant disease. Here the authors show that orally administered E. coli Nissle 1917 can selectively colonize adenomas in mouse models and in patients as a detection tool, as well as deliver immunotherapeutics for colorectal neoplasia treatment.

    • Candice R. Gurbatri
    • , Georgette A. Radford
    •  & Tal Danino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic soft robots offer a non-invasive way to deliver bioadhesives to targeted lesion sites to accelerate the healing. Authors present a magnetic multi-layer soft robot that is capable of performing navigated locomotion on biological tissues and on-demand multi-target adhesion at different sites.

    • Ziheng Chen
    • , Yibin Wang
    •  & Jiangfan Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrical signals with characteristic parameters for reconstructing neural circuits remain incompletely understood, limiting the therapeutic potential of electrical neuromodulation techniques. Here, the authors demonstrate that dual electrical stimulation at 10–20 Hz rebuilds the spinal sensorimotor neural circuit after spinal cord injury, indicating the characteristic signals of circuit remodeling.

    • Kai Zhou
    • , Wei Wei
    •  & Yaobo Liu

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Neuroprosthetic devices have recently emerged as promising solutions to restore sensory-motor functions lost due to injury or neurological diseases. In this perspective, Donati and Valle propose to combine neuroprostheses with neuromorphic technologies for designing more natural human-machine interfaces with possible improvements in device performance, acceptability, and embeddability.

    • Elisa Donati
    •  & Giacomo Valle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Harvesting biomechanical energy from cardiac motion is an attractive power source for implantable bioelectronic devices. Here, the authors report a battery-free, transcatheter, self-powered intracardiac pacemaker for the treatment of arrhythmia in large animal models.

    • Zhuo Liu
    • , Yiran Hu
    •  & Zhong Lin Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microneedle patches that can actively address individual needles are challenging to realize. Here, the authors introduce a spatiotemporal on-demand patch for precise and personalized drug delivery, utilizing electrically triggered control with drug-loaded microneedles and biocompatible metallic membranes.

    • Yihang Wang
    • , Zeka Chen
    •  & Wubin Bai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetic resonance imaging is a useful clinical tool, but its widespread use is constrained by size, cost, and time. Here, the authors report the development of a magnetic resonance sensor for the clinical detection of muscle tissue, allowing for new point-of-care quantitative diagnostic measurements

    • Sydney E. Sherman
    • , Alexa S. Zammit
    •  & Michael J. Cima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoscale optoelectrodes hold the potential to optically stimulate individual neuron. Here, the authors form nanoscale capacitive optoelectrodes by incorporating zinc porphyrin into nanorods, coated by TiO2, a design that allows for far-field optical modulation of neurons with efficiency and negligible side effects.

    • Jian Chen
    • , Yanyan Liu
    •  & Wenbo Bu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The unequal distribution of medical resources means that bronchoscopic services are often unavailable in underdeveloped areas. Here, the authors present an AI co-pilot bronchoscope robot that features a user-friendly plug-and-play catheter and an AI-human shared control algorithm, to enable novice doctors to conduct lung examinations safely.

    • Jingyu Zhang
    • , Lilu Liu
    •  & Haojian Lu

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Wearable devices can provide personalised medicine at the point of need, potentially increasing access to health services and therefore improving health equity. Here the authors discuss their experiences developing wearable devices for vulnerable patient populations, including neonates and pregnant individuals.

    • Jessica R. Walter
    • , Shuai Xu
    •  & John A. Rogers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    No preventive treatment addresses the underlying condition that leads to cardiac arrest. Here, researchers developed an injectable hydrogel electrode that achieves pacing that mimics physiological conduction with the potential to eliminate lethal arrhythmias and provide painless defibrillation.

    • Gabriel J. Rodriguez-Rivera
    • , Allison Post
    •  & Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Scalability of mechanoporation strategies for intracellular delivery remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate a microfluidic approach for delivering mRNA and CRISPR-Cas systems to over 250 million cells per minute.

    • Derin Sevenler
    •  & Mehmet Toner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Generating microfluidic droplets with application-specific desired characteristics is hard. Here the authors report fluid-agnostic machine learning models capable of accurately predicting device geometries and flow conditions required to generate stable single and double emulsions.

    • Ali Lashkaripour
    • , David P. McIntyre
    •  & Polly M. Fordyce

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spread of many infectious diseases substantially relies on aerosol transmission to the respiratory tract. Here, the authors design an intranasal mask with the ability to intercept viral aerosols, entrap and inactivate virus, thus preventing respiratory tract infection.

    • Xiaoming Hu
    • , Shuang Wang
    •  & Wei Wei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinomas (cHCC-CCA) are challenging to diagnose, as they exhibit features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICCA). Here, the authors use deep learning to re-classify cHCC-CCA tumours into HCC or ICCA based on histopathology images.

    • Julien Calderaro
    • , Narmin Ghaffari Laleh
    •  & Jakob Nikolas Kather

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrical stimulation of the neuromuscular system holds promise for therapeutic biomedical applications, but is currently restricted by power. Here, the authors introduce fully implantable resonator-based designs achieving ±20 V compliance and >300 mW output, enabling multichannel, biphasic, current-controlled operation to evoke functional gate patterns for 6-weeks in freely behaving rats.

    • Alex Burton
    • , Zhong Wang
    •  & Philipp Gutruf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving successful in vivo cartilage regeneration remains challenging. Here they present a cell-free, multiple hydrogen-bond crosslinked hydrogel loaded with tannic acid and Kartogenin with ultra-durable mechanical properties and stage-dependent drug release behavior to promote cartilage regeneration.

    • Yuxuan Yang
    • , Xiaodan Zhao
    •  & Xuesi Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Methods for the wireless, continuous monitoring and analysis of activities directly from the throat skin have not been developed. Here, the authors present a stretchable device platform that provides wireless measurements and machine learning-based analysis of vibrations and muscle electrical activities from the throat.

    • Hongcheng Xu
    • , Weihao Zheng
    •  & Libo Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Symbiosis should be maintained during the oral regeneration period. Herein, authors develop an occlusive membrane that induces symbiosis, thereby improving the performance of guided bone generation therapy.

    • Woojin Choi
    • , Utkarsh Mangal
    •  & Jinkee Hong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Geometrical complexities of blood vessels alter biophysical behaviors of circulating tumor cells, influencing cancer metastasis. Here, the authors develop a 3D bioprinted in vitro brain blood vessel-on-a-chip to investigate continuities between vascular geometry and metastatic cancer development.

    • Wonbin Park
    • , Jae-Seong Lee
    •  & Dong-Woo Cho

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Body area networks represent a wearable technology suitable for applications like virtual reality and health monitoring. Here, the study presents a wireless battery-free channel that works reliably in harsh environments, including underwater. It utilizes stretchable magneto-inductive metamaterials to enable uninterrupted communication.

    • Amirhossein Hajiaghajani
    • , Patrick Rwei
    •  & Peter Tseng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing magnetic actuation systems using a single permanent magnet can only achieve 2-DoF orientation manipulation. Wang et al. propose a magnetic actuation method that uses a single anisotropic soft magnet instead of a permanent magnet to enable full 3-DoF orientation manipulation of small, untethered robots.

    • Heng Wang
    • , Junhao Cui
    •  & Yuxiang Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite promising advantages, bioresorbable electronics face practical limitations due to unpredictable device lifetimes. Here, the authors introduce an on-demand bioresorbable neurostimulator powered by biosafe ultrasound to treat peripheral nerve injury and neuropathies.

    • Dong-Min Lee
    • , Minki Kang
    •  & Sang-Woo Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Roughly 10% of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients still have no effective medicine to take. Lung Selective Organ Targeting (SORT) Lipid Nanoparticles can efficiently deliver Cas9 mRNA, sgRNA, and donor ssDNA templates for precise homology-directed repair-mediated gene correction in ex vivo and in vivo CF models.

    • Tuo Wei
    • , Yehui Sun
    •  & Daniel J. Siegwart

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