Biological sciences articles within Nature Materials

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  • Article |

    The basement membrane stiffness is shown to be a more dominant determinant than pore size in regulating cancer cell invasion, metastasis formation and patient survival. This stiffness is now known to be affected by the ratio of netrin-4 to laminin, with more netrin-4 leading to softer basement membranes.

    • Raphael Reuten
    • , Sina Zendehroud
    •  & Janine T. Erler

  • Editorial |

    After years of speculation over who would be recognized for the pioneering work on the gene editing tool CRISPR–Cas9, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has finally been awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna.

  • News & Views |

    A bioprinting approach that utilizes organoid-forming stem cells as a living ink within hydrogels guides tissue-scale self-organization to generate more realistic gastrointestinal and vascular tissue constructs.

    • Zev J. Gartner
    •  & Jennifer L. Hu

  • News & Views |

    A dose threshold of one trillion nanoparticles in mice has been discovered and is shown to be crucial for overwhelming the nanoparticle uptake kinetics of liver Kupffer cells and for ensuring efficient nanoparticle delivery into solid tumours upon intravenous administration.

    • Twan Lammers

  • Review Article |

    This Review highlights the recent emergence of stem-cell-derived embryo models for the purpose of advancing our understanding of mammalian embryology as well as their potential uses in regenerative and reproductive medicine.

    • Jianping Fu
    • , Aryeh Warmflash
    •  & Matthias P. Lutolf

  • Review Article |

    This Review provides an overview of bioengineering technologies that can be harnessed to facilitate the culture, self-organization and functionality of human pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids.

    • Elena Garreta
    • , Roger D. Kamm
    •  & Nuria Montserrat

  • Comment |

    Electron microscopy touches on nearly every aspect of modern life, underpinning materials development for quantum computing, energy and medicine. We discuss the open, highly integrated and data-driven microscopy architecture needed to realize transformative discoveries in the coming decade.

    • Steven R. Spurgeon
    • , Colin Ophus
    •  & Mitra L. Taheri

  • News & Views |

    In situ metabolic labelling and targeted modulation of dendritic cells has been achieved using a hydrogel system in combination with covalent capture of antigens and adjuvants, facilitating improved tumour-specific immune response.

    • Joshua M. Gammon
    •  & Christopher M. Jewell

  • Article |

    The mechanism of stress fibre assembly by the coalescence of actin filaments in the cell cortex has now been found to account for the transmission of mechanical forces throughout the entire cell along stress fibres.

    • Timothée Vignaud
    • , Calina Copos
    •  & Laetitia Kurzawa

  • Letter |

    A 3D bioprinting approach has been developed to facilitate tissue morphogenesis by directly depositing organoid-forming stem cells in an extracellular matrix, with the ability to generate intestinal epithelia and branched vascular tissue constructs.

    • Jonathan A. Brassard
    • , Mike Nikolaev
    •  & Matthias P. Lutolf

  • Article |

    Computational analysis and mechanical testing demonstrate that the skeletal system of a marine sponge has, through the course of evolution, achieved a near-optimal resistance to buckling.

    • Matheus C. Fernandes
    • , Joanna Aizenberg
    •  & Katia Bertoldi

  • Article |

    Type-1 innate lymphoid cells have been shown to drive intestinal epithelial proliferation and extracellular matrix remodelling through TGF-β1 secretion, which could exacerbate inflammatory bowel disease comorbidities such as cancer and fibrosis.

    • Geraldine M. Jowett
    • , Michael D. A. Norman
    •  & Eileen Gentleman

  • Article |

    A DNA nanodevice vaccine has been developed and utilized to stimulate a tumour-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte response in vivo, leading to the inhibition of tumour growth as well as prevention of metastasis.

    • Shaoli Liu
    • , Qiao Jiang
    •  & Baoquan Ding

  • News & Views |

    Functional single-cell liver hemi-canaliculi have been generated in a synthetic microenvironment using a reductionist approach. It is shown that the interaction between the extracellular matrix and static cadherin is sufficient to develop an apicobasal polarity independently of the contact with neighbouring cells.

    • Covadonga Díaz-Díaz
    •  & Fernando Martín-Belmonte

  • Article |

    Efficient nanoparticle delivery into tumours has been a challenge in the field. It is now shown that the efficiency can be improved substantially when the dose breaches a specific threshold.

    • Ben Ouyang
    • , Wilson Poon
    •  & Warren C. W. Chan

  • Editorial |

    Within a few weeks of the novel coronavirus genome sequence being published, numerous therapies and vaccines have entered clinical trials with a few showing great promise in alleviating symptoms and accelerating recovery.

  • Comment |

    Consensus among experts is that only an effective COVID-19 vaccine will end the pandemic. This Comment focuses on how this pandemic has accelerated the development of vaccine platforms distinct from classical vaccines; these novel platforms may also increase the response time when new viruses emerge in the future.

    • Debby van Riel
    •  & Emmie de Wit

  • News & Views |

    Nanoformulations of cabotegravir prodrugs have been developed to prolong the pharmacokinetics of the antiretroviral agent. They can be present in the plasma of mice and non-human primates for a year following a single injection.

    • Vicente Soriano
    • , Pablo Barreiro
    •  & Carmen de Mendoza

  • News & Views |

    Reprogramming normal cells into tumour precursors involves complex reconditioning of the tissue microenvironment. Cumulative integration of genetic drivers with extrinsic mechanical inputs is now shown to engage YAP/TAZ to rewire cell mechanics and initiate tumorigenic reprogramming.

    • Sayan Chakraborty
    •  & Wanjin Hong

  • News & Views |

    While integrin-based adhesions are thought to underlie many aspects of cell response to localized tension, another matrix receptor, syndecan-4, has now been shown to act as a mechanosensor, which triggers cell-wide integrin activation and adhesion reinforcement.

    • Christophe Guilluy
    •  & Monika E. Dolega

  • Article |

    Atomic force microscopy indentation measurements of cells cultured on soft substrates may result in an underestimation of cell stiffness. A model has now been developed that takes this soft substrate effect into account, revealing that cortical cell stiffness is largely independent of substrate mechanics.

    • Johannes Rheinlaender
    • , Andrea Dimitracopoulos
    •  & Kristian Franze

  • Comment |

    The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited efforts to develop materials science innovations aimed at stopping viral infections. One of the greatest opportunities lies in developing broad-spectrum antiviral technologies that work against many viruses, which could be the key to thwarting outbreaks in the future.

    • Nam Joon Cho
    •  & Jeffrey S. Glenn

  • Article |

    Dendritic cells concentrated in vivo within a hydrogel have been metabolically tagged with azido groups to enable tracking as well as delivery of antigens, adjuvants and cytokines, thereby facilitating targeted immunomodulation.

    • Hua Wang
    • , Miguel C. Sobral
    •  & David J. Mooney

  • Article |

    Nanoformulated long-acting cabotegravir prodrugs are shown to be capable of extending the native drug’s antiretroviral activity, biodistribution and pharmacokinetics for up to 12 months in mice and rhesus macaques.

    • Tanmay A. Kulkarni
    • , Aditya N. Bade
    •  & Howard E. Gendelman

  • News & Views |

    New evidence now suggests that the dominant mechanism of extravasation of nanoparticles into solid tumours may be through an active process of endothelial transcytosis.

    • Irene de Lázaro
    •  & David J. Mooney

  • News & Views |

    Mutations in lamins in skeletal muscle cells have been shown to reduce nuclear stability, increase nuclear envelope rupture, and induce DNA damage and cell death. New research shows that limiting mechanical loads can rescue myofibre function and viability.

    • Joel C. Eissenberg
    •  & Susana Gonzalo

  • Why it Matters |

    Laura Benzonana and Nikos Sgantzis reflect on their experience as organizers for Pint of Science in Greece.

    • Laura Benzonana
    •  & Nikolaos Sgantzis

  • Article |

    Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)–Ras oncogenes have now been shown to reprogram normal primary human and mouse cells into tumour precursors by empowering cellular mechanotransduction, in a process requiring permissive extracellular-matrix rigidity and intracellular YAP/TAZ/Rac mechanical signalling sustained by activated oncogenes.

    • Tito Panciera
    • , Anna Citron
    •  & Stefano Piccolo

  • News & Views |

    Cancer cells have now been shown to lack rigidity-sensing due to alteration in cytoskeletal sensor proteins, but can be reversed from a transformed to a rigidity-dependent growth state by the sensor proteins, resulting in restoration of contractility and adhesion.

    • Edna C. Hardeman
    •  & Peter W. Gunning

  • News & Views |

    Using organic solvent shortens formation time of membrane nanosheets comprising proteins and copolymers, while tuning protein structure tailors the pore geometry, resulting in superior water permeation.

    • Andrew G. Livingston
    •  & Zhiwei Jiang

  • News & Views |

    Aligned anisotropic organization of the extracellular matrix by fibroblasts has now been shown to depend on cell reorientation following collision, with the cell collision guidance dependent on the transcription factor, TFAP2C.

    • Paolo P. Provenzano

  • Article |

    Protein channels are highly selective, but application in membranes is limited due to low protein content. Here, protein channels are embedded into block copolymers to form nanosheets using rapid solvent casting, with better water permeability and similar molecular exclusions relative to other membrane systems.

    • Yu-Ming Tu
    • , Woochul Song
    •  & Manish Kumar

  • Article |

    The dominant mechanism of nanoparticle entry into solid tumours has now been shown to be an active trans-endothelial pathway rather than the currently established passive transport via inter-endothelial gaps.

    • Shrey Sindhwani
    • , Abdullah Muhammad Syed
    •  & Warren C. W. Chan

  • Article |

    A mechanism of cell response to localized tension shows that syndecan-4 synergizes with EGFR to elicit a mechanosignalling cascade that leads to adaptive cell stiffening through PI3K/kindlin-2 mediated integrin activation.

    • Antonios Chronopoulos
    • , Stephen D. Thorpe
    •  & Armando E. del Río Hernández

  • News & Views |

    Epithelial layers under compression avoid buckling by active contraction, but only up to a well-defined threshold at 35% strain, beyond which buckling occurs.

    • Ulrich S. Schwarz

  • News & Views |

    In a murine model of acute colitis, hyaluronic acid–bilirubin-based nanomaterials have been shown to modulate immune response and the gut microbiome, as well as restore the epithelial barrier.

    • Ankur Singh

  • Article |

    Lamin mutations responsible for muscular dystrophy are shown to reduce nuclear envelope stability, resulting in mechanically induced nuclear envelope rupture, DNA damage and activation of DNA damage response pathways that lead to muscle cell death. Preventing nuclear envelope damage by reducing cytoskeletal forces on the nucleus improves muscle fibre health and function.

    • Ashley J. Earle
    • , Tyler J. Kirby
    •  & Jan Lammerding

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