Biological sciences articles within Nature Materials

Featured

  • News & Views |

    Single-particle tracking of nanoparticles dispersed in the cytoplasm of living cells shows that non-specific interactions with the intracellular environment are the major contributors for the anomalous diffusion characteristics of intracellular motion.

    • Matthias Weiss

  • News & Views |

    A micropatterned human pluripotent stem cell-based developmental model was utilized to demonstrate the role of biophysical cues such as cell size and cytoskeletal contractile forces in directing patterning of neuroepithelial and neural plate border cells.

    • Mukul Tewary
    •  & Peter W. Zandstra

  • Article |

    The gastrointestinal tract is a therapeutic target for type-2 diabetes. An orally deliverable sucralfate-based material is shown to form a physical coating in the gut, capable of limiting glucose uptake and also administering drugs to the gut lining.

    • Yuhan Lee
    • , Tara E. Deelman
    •  & Jeffrey M. Karp

  • Feature |

    Tumour heterogeneity and off-target toxicity are current challenges of cancer immunotherapy. Karine Dzhandzhugazyan, Per Guldberg and Alexei Kirkin discuss how epigenetic induction of tumour antigens in antigen-presenting cells may form the basis for multi-target therapies.

    • Karine N. Dzhandzhugazyan
    • , Per Guldberg
    •  & Alexei F. Kirkin

  • Feature |

    Camille M. Le Gall, Jorieke Weiden, Loek J. Eggermont and Carl G. Figdor provide an overview of immunotherapeutics for cancer treatment that harness dendritic cells, their challenges in clinical use, and approaches employed to enhance their recruitment and activation to promote effective anti-tumour immunity.

    • Camille M. Le Gall
    • , Jorieke Weiden
    •  & Carl G. Figdor

  • Editorial |

    As the interaction of the immune system with the tumour microenvironment becomes increasingly understood, more evidence indicates how immunotherapy can be employed to better eliminate cancers.

  • News & Views |

    A strategy to enhance antigen immunogenicity was developed by adsorption of polyethyleneimine on a mesoporous silica microrod vaccine for the presentation of tumour viruses and neoantigens, demonstrating their ability to drive anti-tumour immunity.

    • Cornelis J. M. Melief

  • Feature |

    Darrell Irvine provides an overview of the recent advances in materials science that have enabled the use of innovative natural and synthetic compounds in vaccine development capable of regulating the potency and safety of new vaccines progressing towards the clinic.

    • Darrell Irvine

  • Review Article |

    Immunotherapy offers a promising approach to treating a range of complications. This Review discusses strategies that employ bioengineering and immunological principles to develop engineered tissues for screening therapeutics and treating diseases.

    • Emily A. Gosselin
    • , Haleigh B. Eppler
    •  & Christopher M. Jewell

  • News & Views |

    Microbial gas vesicles have been developed for use as MRI contrast agents whose contrast can be inactivated by applying ultrasound waves to collapse the vesicles.

    • Jeff W. M. Bulte

  • Letter |

    A strategy to enhance antigen immunogenicity is shown using polyethyleneimine adsorbed on mesoporous silica microrod vaccine as a platform for neoantigens, supporting potent humoral immune response and inhibition of tumour growth following vaccination.

    • Aileen Weiwei Li
    • , Miguel C. Sobral
    •  & David J. Mooney

  • Article |

    Molecular simulations reveal the self-assembly of small molecules into nanoparticle drug carriers. Targeting of colon and liver cancer cells by the nanoparticles via kinase inhibitors is employed in anti-tumour therapy in vivo.

    • Yosi Shamay
    • , Janki Shah
    •  & Daniel A. Heller

  • News & Views |

    An effective adjuvant for the induction of humoural and cellular immunity is achieved by a Pickering emulsion formulation that allows pliability and mobility of loaded antigens.

    • Herman F. Staats
    •  & David J. Burkhart

  • News & Views |

    Nanoparticle mimics of heparan sulfate proteoglycans offer a new strategy for the inhibition of a range of viral infections.

    • Benson J. Edagwa
    •  & Howard E. Gendelman

  • Article |

    Proceeding from quantum mechanical predictions, a high shear piezoelectric constant of 178 pm V−1 was measured for the amino acid crystal beta glycine. This originates from the efficient packing of the molecules of the amino acid.

    • Sarah Guerin
    • , Aimee Stapleton
    •  & Damien Thompson

  • News & Views |

    Single-cell force spectroscopy reveals rapid, biphasic integrin activation and reinforcement of cell–matrix bonds during the initial steps of fibroblast adhesion.

    • Ning Wang

  • Editorial |

    As the role of biophysical cues in regulating cell behaviour is increasingly understood, more evidence in the field of bioengineering indicates how such signals can affect cells and tissues.

  • News & Views |

    Blocking the growth of new blood vessels has been shown to alter fibrosis in livers in a disease stage-specific manner. In vitro models of fibrosis were developed to understand this process, highlighting the role of environmental mechanics.

    • Geoffrey C. Gurtner
    •  & Jagannath Padmanabhan

  • News & Views |

    The influence of matrix stiffness and degradation on neural progenitor cell stemness was investigated in a three-dimensional culture system, highlighting the role of remodelling in enhancing cell-to-cell interaction and ultimately maintaining neural stemness.

    • Phillip H. Kang
    • , Sanjay Kumar
    •  & David V. Schaffer

  • Commentary |

    Biomaterials engineered with specific bioactive ligands, tunable mechanical properties and complex architecture have emerged as powerful tools to probe cell sensing and response to physical properties of their material surroundings, and ultimately provide designer approaches to control cell function.

    • Linqing Li
    • , Jeroen Eyckmans
    •  & Christopher S. Chen

  • News & Views |

    Fragments of DNA that are derived from dead tumour cells and shed into a patient's blood have been utilized as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of liver cancer.

    • Miljana Tanić
    •  & Stephan Beck

  • News & Views |

    Cysts were generated from organoids in vitro and the removal of adherent cues was shown to play a key role in polycystic kidney disease progression. These cysts resembled those of diseased tissue phenotypically and were capable of remodelling their microenvironment.

    • Paola Romagnani

  • Article |

    The mechanical properties of biomaterials affect cell growth through mechanotransduction signals. Here, hydrogels with fast stress relaxation were developed and showed increased cartilage matrix formation by cartilage cells compared to slow relaxation hydrogels.

    • Hong-pyo Lee
    • , Luo Gu
    •  & Ovijit Chaudhuri

  • News & Views |

    DNA origami nanostructures were utilized to replicate a seed pattern that resulted in the growth of populations of nanostructures. Exponential growth could be controlled by environmental conditions depending on the preferential requirements of each population.

    • Friedrich C. Simmel

  • News & Views |

    Quantitative analysis of colliding cell monolayers reveals surprising wave phenomena involving contractility, jamming and activation of epithelial cells.

    • Ulrich S. Schwarz
    •  & Falko Ziebert

  • News & Views |

    A study demonstrates that controlled integrin binding on a biomaterial was capable of promoting vascular cell sprouting and formation of a non-leaky blood vessel network in a healthy and diseased state.

    • Michael R. Blatchley
    •  & Sharon Gerecht

  • Article |

    Femtosecond laser pulses can induce local bulging or plasma ablation of silk with limited structural damage, thus offering a technique for cutting, patterning, bending and welding of silk with various other materials.

    • Mehra S. Sidhu
    • , Bhupesh Kumar
    •  & Kamal P. Singh

  • News & Views |

    High-resolution imaging, composition analysis and mechanical testing reveal a disordered transitional material within the Achilles tendon-to-bone attachment, structured as a fibrous network to enable force transfer and maximize structural integrity.

    • Guy M. Genin
    •  & Stavros Thomopoulos

  • Article |

    Epidermal growth factor receptor and its isoform HER2 are recruited to nascent cellular adhesion sites and play an important role in the rigidity sensing of cells on stiff substrates, this activity being dependent on Src-mediated phosphorylation.

    • Mayur Saxena
    • , Shuaimin Liu
    •  & Michael P. Sheetz

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