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Category: biological – Page 3

Curved surfaces reshape active materials, localizing vibrations near defects

Many materials, both living and engineered, are powered from within. Scientists have thoroughly investigated how such ‘active’ materials operate, but so far, mostly in circumstances where the curvature of the environment does not play a role. In research published in Physical Review Letters this week, a team of physicists proposes a framework to describe how active materials operate in the presence of curvature. The framework explains striking biological observations and may lead to geometry as a design parameter for new materials.

Examples of active materials include tissues made of moving cells and mechanical metamaterials that use embedded motors or actuators. A major difference between such active materials and ordinary materials lies in the way they deform. Push an ordinary material, and it will deform where the force acts. Active materials, on the other hand, can generate further forces that redirect deformations, leading to all kinds of unexpected, but often quite useful, behavior.

A striking example comes from observations in biological experiments, where starfish embryos were found to self-organize into crystal-like structures on a water surface. In this example, an extra factor comes into play: The water surface in the test tubes used in the experiments is not flat but slightly curved—just like the surface of water in an ordinary drinking glass that curves upward where the water touches the glass. One consequence of the curvature is that the starfish embryos don’t fit on the surface in a completely regular pattern: Instead, the pattern has occasional irregularities or defects.

MIT engineers connect bacteria to create living transistors

MIT researchers have engineered bacteria that can function as transistors, allowing the team to create living “circuit boards” that can be printed onto a growth medium in a Petri dish.

In electrical circuits, transistors function as switches that can turn current on or off. In the biological circuits that the researchers have created, bacterial switches control the flow of small molecules, which send signals to downstream circuit components.

The research team designed two different transistors, along with three bacterial strains that relay information between the transistors, giving them the building blocks they need to design nearly any type of circuit. In a new study, they used these cells to create circuits that can add two or three inputs, or send one input to a specific location in the circuit.

Soy lysolecithin counters high-salt diet-induced hypertension and cognitive impairment

High-salt (HS) intake is a major global health concern, closely linked to hypertension and growing evidence of cognitive and emotional decline. Although salt is a routine part of daily diets, long-term overconsumption can negatively affect both the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system, underscoring the need for practical dietary strategies to mitigate these adverse health effects.

Prostaglandins (PGs) are lipid compounds derived from arachidonic acid (AA) that act as potent local hormones. They maintain cardiovascular homeostasis through a delicate balance of vasodilation and vasoconstriction. In the brain, depending on the receptor involved, PGs can promote either neuroprotective or neurotoxic signaling, thereby influencing emotional and cognitive function.

LPC70, a soy lysolecithin in which lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) comprises more than 70% of phospholipids, has previously been shown to attenuate high-salt diet (HSD)-induced hypertension and cognitive impairment. However, the biological mechanisms, specifically the role of LPC70 in regulating PG signaling, remain unclear.

Why the Intelligence Community Is Betting on Biotechnology | Dr. Jessica Dymond, Ph.D. — In-Q-Tel

Dr. Jessica Dymond, Ph.D. — Vice President of Technology, In-Q-Tel.

The same technologies that could transform medicine, agriculture, and manufacturing could also reshape global security. Understanding the future of biotechnology requires scientists who can bridge discovery, engineering, and responsibility.

Today on Progress, Potential, and Possibilities, we’re joined by a true pioneer at the nexus of biotechnology and national security. Dr. Jessica Dymond, Ph.D is the Vice President of Technology at In-Q-Tel (https://www.iqt.org/), a not-for-profit venture fund that invests in companies advancing the strategic priorities of U.S. Intelligence Community, where she provides technical and strategic leadership to accelerate emerging biotechnologies that address some of the most critical challenges to national and global security.

Before In-Q-Tel, Dr. Dymond served as Chief Scientist for Physical and Life Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, where she led an interdisciplinary portfolio spanning biological sensing, genomic surveillance, microbiome engineering, and synthetic biology. She founded the Lab’s Biological Sciences group and spearheaded initiatives to anticipate, assess, and mitigate emerging biological threats while strengthening global health security.

Formally trained as a synthetic biologist, Dr. Dymond earned her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, completed a postdoctoral fellowship in functional genomics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and has contributed to groundbreaking research, including the design of synthetic yeast genomes and combinatorial genomic diversity. She also serves on the editorial board of Synthetic Biology from Oxford University Press.

Continue reading “Why the Intelligence Community Is Betting on Biotechnology | Dr. Jessica Dymond, Ph.D. — In-Q-Tel” | >

Overlooked plant proteins may boost gut health

Plant-based diets are good for you. They promote gut, immune, metabolic and cardiovascular health, in part by cultivating a diverse community of intestinal bacteria. These benefits have long been known to stem partly from the fiber in plant-based foods, which is processed by our commensal gut bacteria, and the often brightly colored “phytochemicals” plants produce to protect themselves from environmental threats. But much remains to be learned about how exactly the bugs in our bellies process the constituents of vegetables to such salubrious effect.

A pair of studies led by Ludwig Princeton’s Jenna AbuSalim and director Joshua Rabinowitz—one in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the other published in Nature Metabolism—shed new light on the matter.

One study reveals that plant fibers and proteins reprogram microbial metabolism to boost production of a healthful class of metabolites while suppressing that of their harmful counterparts. The other demonstrates that many physiologically important metabolites generally attributed to intestinal microbes are, in fact, also produced abundantly by mammalian metabolism.

Protein-like nanoparticles sort themselves inside growing crystals, enabling controlled release

The tiny bones in your fingers withstand countless taps and swipes thanks to a precise blend of materials. Flexible collagen fibers form the framework, reinforced by hard calcium phosphate hydroxyapatite crystals. This is just one of countless examples in which living organisms weave organic materials directly into inorganic crystals with exquisite precision. In a recent study published in Nature Communications, scientists attempted to recreate such precise spatial arrangements in biomimetic composite materials.

The researchers made two types of tiny diblock copolymer nanoparticles designed to mimic pseudo-proteins. The first consisted of solid spheres about 100 nanometers big, with a poly(benzyl methacrylate) core and a shell of sulfate-containing chains tagged with a red fluorescent dye. The second consisted of hollow, bubble-like particles about 300 nanometers across. They had the same polymer core but a carboxylate-rich outer shell tagged with a green fluorescent dye.

These tiny polymer nanoparticles, engineered with different sizes and compositions, much like protein molecules, sorted themselves naturally as growing calcite crystals trapped them. Instead of mixing randomly, the two types ended up in separate regions of the crystal, creating an artificial biomineral with a distinctly organized structure—all driven by differences in the nanoparticles’ surface chemistry.

Single synthetic peptide forms electrically polarized, self-healing hydrogel

Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) and RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute (PRI) in Japan, together with collaborators from the University of Münster, Germany, have developed a new hydrogel that offers significant advantages over others currently on the market in the field of biomaterials.

Based on a single synthetic peptide called FQ(Pyr), the new hydrogel has a highly organized structure made of nanofibers containing tiny water channels. The molecules within each nanofiber all point in the same direction, creating electrical polarization along the fiber. This means that, in addition to being strong and flexible, the new gel could be used to transport ions, generate electrical signals when squeezed or have other advanced interactions with biological tissues.

The findings were published in Nature Communications.

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