bims-enlima Biomed News
on Engineered living materials
Issue of 2026–08–02
thirty-six papers selected by
Rahul Kumar, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool
  1. De Novo Autogenic Engineered Living Functional Materials.
  2. Synthesis of Ultra-Large Fibrous Proteins from Bacteria via a Looped-Translation System.
  3. 3D-printed implantable bioelectronics enabled by anti-swelling and biphasic conductive hydrogels.
  4. Encoded Cell-Material Interactions to Reroute Cytokine Signaling for Regenerative Medicine.
  5. Photoresponsive Granular Hydrogels Enable Spatiotemporal Control of Matrix Mechanics and MSC Behavior.
  6. Engineered polyketide synthases enable a microbial chassis for recyclable plastics with tunable properties.
  7. From Flow to Function: Using Different Static Mixers to Fabricate Microarchitected Materials Via Chaotic Printing.
  8. Intercalate to modulate.
  9. Susceptibility and regulation of biomolecular condensates by solutes.
  10. Force-responsive biomaterials drive tissue repair by harnessing endogenous growth factors.
  11. Navigating Lipid Nanostructure Design Space Through Continuous Microfluidic Automation.
  12. An Engineered Multicellular Bacterial Network for Simultaneously Answering Multiple Computational Decision Problems.
  13. Disentangling factors affecting bacterial transcriptional regulatory network inference.
  14. Designing fiber-gut microbiome interactions with active learning.
  15. It'll grow on you: live fungi formed into sustainable fashion.
  16. Daily briefing: Why all living cells emit a faint glow.
  17. Atmospheric water harvesting for humidity control in medical devices for global health.
  18. Microbiota matter.
  19. This AI Raygun can shrink and supersize proteins - opening the door to easy editing.
  20. A General Strategy for an Efficient Biointerface via Enhanced Capacitive Coupling.
  21. Responsible biotechnology: an analysis of the Asilomar 2025 entreaties.
  22. Microbial catalysts unlock vitamin bioproduction.
  23. Photosoftening Macroporous Hydrogels for Dynamic Tissue Engineering.
  24. Intercalated conductive fibres.
  25. Alternating CO2 and bicycloalkane copolymerization to circular polyesters.
  26. Visco-Bits: temporal-coding-inspired viscoelastic metamaterial for mechanical memory expansion.
  27. Design of High-Performance, Robust, and Recyclable Epoxy Resins.
  28. Engineering STRAIGHT-IN single and dual lines in the male iPS11 parental line for programmable DNA integration.
  29. Meniscus-Guided Interfacial Ring-by-Ring Assembly for In Situ Fabrication of Tubular Hydrogels.
  30. Identifying endogenous substrates of the 26S proteasome through site-specific photocrosslinking.
  31. Miniaturizing and modifying natural proteins with Raygun.
  32. Coupled metabolic reactions relevant to early biological evolution.
  33. Non-reciprocal linearly polarized light in simple media.
  34. Polysarcosine as a PEG Alternative Feedstock for 3D Digital Light Processing of Tunable Biocompatible Hydrogels.
  35. De novo design of selective kinase modulators.
  36. One-Step Direct Writing and In Situ Poling of Ultrathin Piezoelectric Microarchitectures for Organ-Conformal Stretchable Biointerfaces.
  1. Adv Mater. 2026 Jul 31. e74312
    De Novo Autogenic Engineered Living Functional Materials.
    Hoda M Hammad, Seth Swarnadeep, Erin C Jackson, Nicolas Burns, Hongyu Wang, Harrison Priode, Robert B Moore, Sanket Deshmukh, Avinash Manjula-Basavanna, Anna M Duraj-Thatte.
      Autogenic engineered living materials (ELMs) enable the in situ production and engineering of native extracellular matrix (ECM). However, existing autogenic ELMs remain limited in scope and functionality. Here, we present a versatile platform for de novo autogenic functional ELMs, leveraging protein mining, computational modeling, and synthetic biology. By analyzing 33,564 CsgA-like homologs, we identify candidates for de novo ECM protein nanofibers. Using AlphaFold2 and molecular dynamics simulations, we elucidate the structural stability of these β-solenoid proteins. By reprogramming the Escherichia coli curli machinery, we achieve the biosynthesis of CsgA-like ELMs from non-model bacteria, featuring up to a 9-fold increased molecular weight and expanded β-sheet repeat units. Furthermore, we fabricate macroscopic biomaterials with enhanced mechanical properties (a 3-fold increase in storage modulus), and their extracellular fiber networks attenuate UV-C irradiation, extending the survival of embedded cells by 5-fold. We further demonstrate programmable functionalities, including 3D printability and selective binding to nanoparticles and antibodies. This work establishes a powerful framework for discovering, designing, and harnessing natural biomolecular systems to advance next-generation autogenic ELMs.
    Keywords:  curli nanofibers; engineered living materials; functional amyloids; protein hydrogels; protein structure prediction
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74312
  2. bioRxiv. 2026 Jul 17. pii: 2026.07.16.738376. [Epub ahead of print]
    Synthesis of Ultra-Large Fibrous Proteins from Bacteria via a Looped-Translation System.
    Qi Xie, Louis J Papa, Anton M Barybin, Michael Xiong, Matthew D Shoulders, Stephen D Fried.
      High molecular weight fibrous proteins such as silk, elastin, and collagens, are fundamental for providing shape to macroscopic biological structures, yet their recombinant production remains challenging because of their extreme size and sequence repetitiveness. Here, we report a circular RNA-based ribosome translation platform that enables iterative ribosome synthesis of fibrous proteins through continuously "looped" translation. To promote efficient circularization of repetitive fibrous protein transcripts, we combined a synonymous codon locker sequence strategy with RNA circularization chaperones. Guided by a ribosome traffic model, we further optimized the translation bottlenecks within the circular RNA, substantially improving translation yields. The established looped translation platform is applicable to at least six classes of fibrous proteins and generated products with molecular weight exceeding titin at 3.8 MDa. The synthesized polypeptides were characterized through electron microscopy, bulk material fabrication, and mechanical analysis, demonstrating properties associated with ultra-high molecular weight polypeptides. Finally, we coupled looped translation to secretion through a programmed ribosomal frameshift, enabling export of fibrous protein across cellular membranes in both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis . We envision that the genetic tools presented here could find a range of applications in bioplastics and engineered living materials.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.16.738376
  3. Nat Mater. 2026 Jul 31.
    3D-printed implantable bioelectronics enabled by anti-swelling and biphasic conductive hydrogels.
    Yuan Yao, Jianhua Luo, Yue Hui, Jiahua Lyu, Yubin Ke, Wenhao Shen, Yuchen Xu, Yetian Yu, Hongcai Chen, Jiadong Chen, Guang Chen, Mohamad Sawan, Liang Tao, Nanjia Zhou.
      Hydrogel bioelectronics are promising candidates to bridge biological and electronic systems. However, maintaining stable communication between hydrogel devices and biological materials in wet physiological environments is challenging owing to the swelling-induced mechanical degradation of hydrogel encapsulation and electrical failure of conductive networks. To address this, we report a micellar self-assembly method to fabricate soft, stretchable and anti-swelling hydrogels as building blocks for implantable hydrogel bioelectronics. Compared with conventional swelling hydrogels and silicones, these anti-swelling hydrogels show reduced foreign-body reactions during long-term implantation. Using a microgel strategy, we engineer the anti-swelling hydrogel into a supporting matrix and a biphasic conductive hydrogel ink, enabling embedded 3D printing of hydrogel bioelectronics. Through regulating the monomer diffusion during the manufacturing process, we tailor the conductive phase of the conductive hydrogel, achieving conductivities of up to 4,000 S cm-1, and a strain at electrical failure exceeding 1,300% when equilibrated in an aqueous environment. Different types of hydrogel bioelectronic implant are printed, including brain-computer interfaces, wirelessly powered optoelectronics and sciatic-nerve stimulators. These devices show long-term stability and reliable operation following implantation in rats.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02691-7
  4. Adv Healthc Mater. 2026 Jul 28. e71481
    Encoded Cell-Material Interactions to Reroute Cytokine Signaling for Regenerative Medicine.
    Zachary M Eidman, Jhanvi Sharma, Joanne C Lee, Nicholas F Schulze, Hannah J Brien, Kevin C Corn, Marjan Rafat, Jonathan M Brunger.
      Regenerative engineering harnesses materials science and stem cell biology to develop strategies to repair damaged and diseased tissue. Despite advances in designer materials, few techniques effectively provide auto-regulated feedback mechanisms that govern how cells sense and respond to discrete microenvironmental changes. Here, we demonstrate that the artificial, juxtacrine-like receptor synthetic Notch (synNotch) can be activated by endogenous multimeric cytokines in solution, without immobilizing materials, revealing a previously unreported activation modality and yielding up to 24-fold dynamic range. To broaden synNotch sensing to monomeric cytokines, we developed nMATRIX, a co-engineered material-cell platform that detects endogenous, soluble ligands and routes them to programmed gene circuits with spatially confined effects. nMATRIX can be tuned to recognize the interleukins IL-1β and IL-6 using synNotch receptors plus cognate biomaterials, yielding more than 68-fold dynamic range and converting these inflammatory inputs into orthogonal outputs that reprogram nearby cell phenotypes. nMATRIX functions across multiple cell types and can incorporate the synNotch-related SNIPR synthetic receptor platform. nMATRIX repurposed inflammatory signals and converted them into anti-inflammatory cues to modulate macrophage surface marker expression. Thus, nMATRIX couples native soluble cues to customized cellular responses with tunable sensitivity, offering a flexible materials-based approach for self-regulating regenerative therapies.
    Keywords:  bioactive materials; cell‐based therapy; regenerative engineering; synthetic Notch
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.71481
  5. Adv Mater. 2026 Jul 28. e74258
    Photoresponsive Granular Hydrogels Enable Spatiotemporal Control of Matrix Mechanics and MSC Behavior.
    Nicole E Friend, Nolan R Petrich, Kara E Shockley, Ashbey N Manning, Matthew W Jaeschke, Daniel Saeb, Mark W Young, Kristi S Anseth.
      Granular hydrogels offer a powerful platform for engineering porous, cell-instructive scaffolds with tunable mechanical, structural, and biochemical properties, yet introducing spatial and functional heterogeneity typically requires multiple microgel populations or complex fabrication strategies. Here, we present a programmable, photoresponsive granular hydrogel platform that enables post-assembly spatiotemporal control of scaffold mechanics and cell microenvironments from a single microgel formulation. Poly(ethylene glycol) microgels containing photolabile allyl sulfide moieties were synthesized via strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition and assembled into granular scaffolds capable of light-mediated remodeling through radical addition-fragmentation chain transfer. This chemistry afforded dynamic, on-demand, and spatially defined tuning of mechanical properties (G' = 0.7-3.7 kPa) while maintaining scaffold porosity (∼20%). High-resolution photopatterning across multiple length (6 µm-1 mm) and timescales enabled precise modulation of local microenvironments. Human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells embedded in these scaffolds responded to spatiotemporal modulation of matrix mechanics as observed by changes in morphology, yes-associated protein 1 (YAP) nuclear localization, and secretory profiles. Together, these results establish a versatile and broadly applicable strategy for programming mechanical heterogeneity and regulating cell behavior in granular hydrogels through photolabile moieties.
    Keywords:  granular hydrogels; mechanosensing; mesenchymal stem/stromal cells; microgels; photodegradation; photopatterning; stiffness
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74258
  6. Nat Biotechnol. 2026 Jul 27.
    Engineered polyketide synthases enable a microbial chassis for recyclable plastics with tunable properties.
    Zilong Wang, Seokjung Cheong, Hai Wang, Jeremy Demarteau, Alexander R Epstein, Baishakhi Bose, Weixi Hu, Matthias Schmidt, Leah Keiser, Mei Zhao, Beibei Ge, Alberto A Nava, Ramu Kakumanu, Edward E K Baidoo, Yan Chen, Christopher J Petzold, Yifan Guo, Nawa Raj Baral, Nemi Vora, Sarah L Nordahl, Yuzhong Liu, Rithwik Ghanta, Pablo Cruz-Morales, Kevin Yin, Robert W Haushalter, Kristin A Persson, Corinne D Scown, Brett A Helms, Jay D Keasling.
      Plastics derived from fossil feedstocks pose major recycling challenges, particularly crosslinked thermosets used in electronics, construction and composites. Polydiketoenamines (PDKs) are recyclable alternatives; however, monomers such as dimedone are petrochemical-derived and offer limited tunability. We computationally screened 144 β-keto-δ-lactones (BKDLs), identifying solvation free energy as the primary determinant of depolymerization temperature across a 20-60 °C range. We engineered hybrid type I polyketide synthases (PKSs) in Escherichia coli and Streptomyces hosts to biosynthesize BKDLs with diverse substituents and defined stereochemistry, reaching titers of 1.84 g L-1 in bioreactors. Polymerization of chemically synthesized BKDLs identical to PKS products confirmed tunable glass transition temperatures (53-98 °C) and temperature-gated depolymerization. Different BKDLs yielded PDKs with thermal, mechanical, solvent-resistance and optical properties governed by substituent and chirality. Technoeconomic and life-cycle analyses indicate that corn-stover-derived BKDLs can outperform petrochemical dimedone on cost and greenhouse gas emissions. This study demonstrates that engineered PKSs can produce monomers for recyclable plastics with programmable depolymerization behavior.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-026-03229-7
  7. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2026 Jul 29. e76626
    From Flow to Function: Using Different Static Mixers to Fabricate Microarchitected Materials Via Chaotic Printing.
    Edna Johana Bolívar-Monsalve, Carlos Fernando Ceballos-González, Diego Alonso Quevedo-Moreno, Irving Isaí Rendón-Moreno, Ariel Cantoral-Sánchez, Héctor Ambriz-González, Mario Moisés Alvarez, Grissel Trujillo-de Santiago.
      Nature builds functional materials through simple yet powerful processes that generate structured architecture across scales-from the lamellar patterns in seashells to the zonal organization of living tissues. Emulating such complexity in engineered systems remains challenging and often requires microfabricated components, external fields, or specialized hardware. Previously, we introduced chaotic printing as a deterministic and flow- and geometry-driven strategy for fabricating structured filaments, using static mixers embedded within extrusion printheads-primarily in the context of biofabrication. We broaden the architectural and functional scope of chaotic printing by exploring diverse static mixer designs and demonstrating its compatibility with three distinct deposition modes: wet-printing, dripping, and direct ink writing. These modalities enable the generation of material constructs with chemically and biologically relevant internal organization. We showcase examples ranging from zonally arranged mammalian cells that prefigure microtissue compartments to spatially patterned bacterial consortia composed of strict and facultative anaerobes and localized mineral precipitation within hydrogel filaments. These proof-of-concept-demonstrations underscore the potential of chaotic printing for fabricating structured soft matter where internal microarchitecture enables biologically and chemically relevant processes. This study positions chaotic printing as a modular, scalable, accessible platform for generating architected materials across fields ranging from cell culture and microbiology to functional soft materials.
    Keywords:  Ross; SMX; chaos; kenics; microarchitecture; printing; static mixer
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.76626
  8. Nat Mater. 2026 Aug;25(8): 1289
    Intercalate to modulate.
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02708-1
  9. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Aug 04. 123(31): e2604434123
    Susceptibility and regulation of biomolecular condensates by solutes.
    Takumi Matsuzawa, Kaarthik Varma, Teagan Bate, Charlotta Lorenz, Katherine Larina, Jonathan Bauermann, Dana Matthias, Tarik Grubić, Robert W Style, Michel O Steinmetz, Eric R Dufresne.
      Metabolites are abundant in cells, where condensation of proteins and nucleic acids can organize cellular contents without membranes. Condensates form and dissolve dynamically in response to diverse cellular processes. Understanding condensate phase behavior using full phase diagrams is hampered by the sheer number of distinct molecular species involved. To circumvent this limitation, we introduce susceptibility, a dimensionless descriptor that quantifies dilute-phase responses to solute perturbations and enables direct comparison across condensates. We measure how three model condensates, assembled by distinct cohesive mechanisms, respond to amino acids, nucleotides, and a crowder. We find that these small molecules generically modulate condensate phase equilibria, with susceptibilities spanning over five orders of magnitude. These magnitudes reflect underlying molecular interactions, consistent with theoretical descriptions of condensation including Flory-Huggins and polyphasic linkage theories. We extend susceptibility to multicomponent perturbations by expressing the response as a weighted sum of individual solute perturbations. Applying these principles, we exploit enzymatic activity to induce condensation and modulate material properties. Our work establishes metabolites as generic modulators of biomolecular condensates with relevance to cellular physiology and provides a framework for programming condensates with desired phase and material properties.
    Keywords:  biomolecular condensates; condensate modulating drugs; intrinsically disordered proteins; phase separation; thermodynamics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2604434123
  10. Nat Mater. 2026 Jul 27.
    Force-responsive biomaterials drive tissue repair by harnessing endogenous growth factors.
    Magdalene Y Ho, Nuria Oliva, Christopher Basu, Marcos R Rodriguez, Jose Antonio Duran-Mota, Divya M Gollapalli, Victor G Szwarcberg, Mo Akhavani, Kyle P Quinn, Benjamin D Almquist.
      Materials enabling the cell-responsive delivery of endogenous biologics, such as growth factors, have the potential to modulate wound repair cost-effectively and safely. Unlike passive drug delivery strategies that require supraphysiological doses of recombinant protein or stimuli-responsive systems that rely on external triggers, we demonstrate a strategy that harnesses cellular traction forces as an intrinsic delivery trigger. Traction-force-activated payloads are bioinspired aptamer constructs attached to biomaterial scaffolds that selectively harvest, concentrate and reactivate multiple endogenous growth factors from cells, injury sites and blood lysate in vivo (rat femur and mouse skin) and ex vivo (human skin), at doses orders of magnitude lower than current clinical standards. Unmodified oligonucleotide aptamers retain functionality in enzyme-rich wound environments, substantially expanding the translational potential of nucleic-acid-based therapeutics. The ability to harvest and redeliver endogenous growth factors without exogenous triggers, recombinant proteins or cold-chain logistics via mechanoresponsive biomaterials opens possibilities for accessible, cost-effective combinatorial biologic therapies.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02682-8
  11. Adv Mater. 2026 Jul 27. e74165
    Navigating Lipid Nanostructure Design Space Through Continuous Microfluidic Automation.
    Bradley Diggines, Marcus Fletcher, Manuel Bibrowski, Karnyart Samnuan, Rongjun Chen, David J Peeler, Amjad Abouselo, Morag R Hunter, Molly M Stevens, Nicholas J Brooks, Yuval Elani.
      The versatility of nanoscale lipid particles has positioned them as the scaffold of choice for biomedical delivery, synthetic membrane engineering, and fundamental biophysical exploration. Across these fields, rational particle design has become a major bottleneck. Lipid composition, stoichiometry, size, morphology, phase behavior, and biophysical properties combine into an enormous, high‑dimensional space that is inherently difficult to explore, making conventional optimization approaches slow and limited. Identifying optimal lipid compositions in this vast space necessitates high-throughput screening based on efficient low-cost automation. Here we introduce a high-throughput microfluidic platform for rapid screening of lipid nanoparticles, offering precise, programmable control over composition and morphology. The system integrates on-chip microfluidic metering of lipid stocks with continuous particle self-assembly, followed by robotic collection into 96-well plates. This workflow enables the generation of over 200 unique formulations per hour, delivering a several-orders-of-magnitude increase in throughput relative to conventional approaches. We apply the platform to systematically map biophysical space at unprecedented resolution, validate compositional trends in transfection efficiency, and identify non-lamellar formulations with optimal functional performance. By coupling scalable synthesis with automated screening, we expect this platform to provide a robust foundation for data-driven and AI-integrated discovery of self-assembled nanomaterials including lipid, polymeric, and biomolecular assemblies.
    Keywords:  automation; bottleneck; computer science; microfluidics; nanomaterials; nanoscopic scale; nanotechnology; particle; throughput; workflow
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74165
  12. Biotechnol Bioeng. 2026 Jul 28.
    An Engineered Multicellular Bacterial Network for Simultaneously Answering Multiple Computational Decision Problems.
    Biyas Mukherjee, Sangram Bagh.
      Living cell-based computers are in their infancy and answering multiple computational decision problems by a single system remains a key challenge. Here, we demonstrate an artificial neural network type architecture implemented with molecular-genetically engineered bacteria that answer four computational decision problems by identifying four types of prime numbers, including cluster prime, Euclid prime, safe prime, and Lucas prime, within the range of 0-9 in a chemical space. First, we demonstrated that the network consisting of four engineered cells classified two prime number families, namely cluster and Lucas prime numbers. Next, we scaled up the four-cell network to a six-cell network by introducing two new engineered cells and demonstrated that the new network classified four prime number families. Questions were asked to the bacteria by applying chemicals in binary patterns, and the answers were obtained from the distinct expression patterns of multiple fluorescent proteins. Each bacterium was engineered with synthetic gene regulatory networks such that the system chemistry followed the mathematical nature of an artificial neuro-synapse module. Collectively, the molecular-genetically engineered bacterial population formed a single-layered artificial neural network type architecture in liquid culture to perform the overall computation. The work may have implications in synthetic biology, biocomputing, and biologically implemented AI wetware.
    Keywords:  artificial neural networks; biocomputing; synthetic biology; synthetic gene regulatory network
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.70325
  13. iScience. 2026 Aug 21. 29(8): 116834
    Disentangling factors affecting bacterial transcriptional regulatory network inference.
    Gaoyuan Li, Joshua T Burrows, Xuwen A Lou, Bernhard O Palsson, Daniel C Zielinski.
      The rapid growth of bacterial gene expression databases has enabled computational inference of transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs), yet it remains unclear why mathematically simple models often capture their apparent complexity. Using a 1035-sample E. coli expression database, we identify two transcriptome principles that support successful TRN inference. First, regulons defined from measured binding sites show limited overlap in gene membership, consistent with statistical independence exhibited by many successful inference methods. Second, 21% of genes, or 877 genes, exhibit regulator "dominance," in which expression strongly correlates with a single regulator activity and receives minimal contributions from other regulators under most conditions. We formalize these properties with quantitative metrics and provide a reference catalog of dominantly regulated E. coli genes. Regulator dominance explains differences between expression-inferred and binding site-defined regulons, and removing dominated genes sharply reduces inference performance, suggesting that simply regulated promoter subsets are central to effective TRN inference.
    Keywords:  TRN inference; machine learning; transcriptional regulation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116834
  14. Nat Chem Biol. 2026 Aug;22(8): 1286-1298
    Designing fiber-gut microbiome interactions with active learning.
    Bryce M Connors, Jaron Thompson, Manasi Subhash Gangan, Nick Quinn-Bohmann, Sean M Gibbons, Job Grant, Alejandro Castellanos-Sanchez, Jessica R McCann, John F Rawls, Ophelia S Venturelli.
      Identifying synergies between dietary fibers and beneficial bacteria holds promise for precision interventions that optimize gut health, yet these interactions remain largely unexplored. Here we integrate machine learning, Bayesian optimization and high-throughput community construction to investigate how dietary fibers shape health-relevant functions of human gut microbial communities. To efficiently navigate the landscape of fiber-microbiome interactions, we implemented a design-test-learn cycle to identify fiber-species combinations that maximize a multiobjective function capturing beneficial community properties. Our model-guided approach revealed a highly butyrogenic and robust ecological motif characterized by the copresence of inulin, Bacteroides uniformis and Anaerostipes caccae and a higher-order interaction with Prevotella copri. Human fecal communities invaded with model-designed species-fiber combinations displayed predictable gut-beneficial outputs. In sum, we demonstrate a framework for designing synthetic microbial communities with desired functions in response to key nutrients.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-026-02272-4
  15. Nature. 2026 Jul 28.
    It'll grow on you: live fungi formed into sustainable fashion.
      
    Keywords:  Materials science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02304-y
  16. Nature. 2026 Jul 28.
    Daily briefing: Why all living cells emit a faint glow.
    Flora Graham.
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02363-1
  17. Nat Biomed Eng. 2026 Jul 27.
    Atmospheric water harvesting for humidity control in medical devices for global health.
    Weixin Guan, Yaxuan Zhao, Bozhi Tian, Xuanhe Zhao, Guihua Yu.
      Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH), which captures water from air, either by condensing humid air or by using sorbents that bind and release water vapour, is being explored as a decentralized source of clean water where piped supply is absent, intermittent or unsafe1-5. Here we highlight the role of AWH as a reversible vapour sorption and controlled condensation strategy to regulate humidity and water activity (the effective availability of water) within biomedical devices. AWH can buffer local hydration and generate small liquid volumes for sampling, improving the robustness of wearables, point-of-care assays and respiratory monitoring in environments where conventional humidity control is unavailable.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01751-2
  18. Nat Mater. 2026 Jul 31.
    Microbiota matter.
    Peng Mi, Horacio Cabral.
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02699-z
  19. Nature. 2026 Jul 29.
    This AI Raygun can shrink and supersize proteins - opening the door to easy editing.
    Gemma Conroy.
      
    Keywords:  Evolution; Machine learning; Molecular biology
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02335-5
  20. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2026 Jul 27.
    A General Strategy for an Efficient Biointerface via Enhanced Capacitive Coupling.
    Ting Xue, Zhiyuan Tan, Weiwei Xia, Yicheng Yang, Jiongyang Qi, Dekui Song, Leyi Yang, Longwei Lv, Wenbo Yue, Yingying Zhang, Nan Liu.
      Reliable sensing of bioelectronic signals is highly dependent on the efficient charge transfer at the biointerface, and the incorporation of biointerface materials would enhance it. Nevertheless, systematic investigations on interfacial electrochemical dynamics remain lacking, and universal fabrication criteria for such biointerface materials are yet to be established. Here, we propose a general strategy to promote interfacial charge transfer via enhancing capacitive coupling. We demonstrate this strategy by the design and synthesis of a hydrogel biointerface (HBI) that provides robust adhesion (adhesive strength up to ∼40 kPa) as well as conformal (Young's modulus < 50 kPa) and compliant (stretchability over 400%) contact with diverse bioelectronics and tissues. Importantly, the HBI enhances the capacitance three-fold and reduces the interfacial impedance over a wide frequency range. Bioelectrodes with HBI are capable of intraoperative neuromonitoring of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) during spinal surgery (lasting approximately 3 h). These results verify the effectiveness of our proposed strategy, which leverages enhanced capacitive coupling to establish an efficient and stable charge transfer interface for practical applications.
    Keywords:  bioelectronics; capacitive coupling; epidermal electronics; hydrogel biointerface; interfacial charge transfer
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c12120
  21. Trends Biotechnol. 2026 Jul 31. pii: S0167-7799(26)00280-5. [Epub ahead of print]
    Responsible biotechnology: an analysis of the Asilomar 2025 entreaties.
    Yonatan Chemla, Christopher A Voigt.
      Fifty years after the original Asilomar Meeting on Recombinant DNA, new stakeholders in biotechnology reconvened at the Spirit of Asilomar and Future of Biotechnology 2025 Conference. The objective was the responsible advancement of biotechnology, with open-ended themes converging around the environmental release of engineered organisms, biosecurity, artificial intelligence in biological sciences, education, governance, regulation, and community practice. This meeting led to 27 published documents ('entreaties'). Here, we synthesize them into action items and contextualize the guidance within the broader literature. The entreaty corpus encompasses different viewpoints that reflect the need to revisit these sometimes-half-century-old topics in light of modern and future advances in biotechnology.
    Keywords:  biosafety; biosecurity; engineered microbes for environmental release; genetically modified microbe; synthetic biology; treaty
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.07.001
  22. Nat Metab. 2026 Jul 27.
    Microbial catalysts unlock vitamin bioproduction.
    Alejandro I Ramirez, Lukas Ernst, Jay D Keasling.
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-026-01584-y
  23. bioRxiv. 2026 Jul 14. pii: 2026.07.13.737088. [Epub ahead of print]
    Photosoftening Macroporous Hydrogels for Dynamic Tissue Engineering.
    Golnaz Navidi, Ben Canter, Ella Morris, Teresa L Rapp.
      With the push towards accessible benchtop models to capture biological events, many researchers are reaching for hydrogel platforms for 3D tissue engineering ex vivo. Recapitulating the dynamic mechanical environment cells experience in vivo requires dynamic hydrogel scaffolds whose mechanical properties can be reprogrammed with spatiotemporal precision. Here we describe a chemically simple hydrogel platform that undergoes visible-light photosoftening via a ruthenium-based photocleavable crosslinker, leveraging tetrazine-norbornene inverse electron demand Diels Alder (iEDDA) click chemistry between RuTetrazine crosslinker and norbornene-modified hyaluronic acid (NorHA). Nitrogen gas evolved during this reaction is repurposed as an intrinsic porogen, nucleating macropores (55-175 µm) directly during gelation. Initial stiffness (1.5-10 kPa) and softening extent (from 50%-100% drop in storage modulus) are independently tunable through polymer and crosslinker composition. We have found RuTetrazine to be non-mutagenic and non-toxic (>80% live cell populations) once network-bound (IC50 = 0.27 mM). In a cell-instructive network co-crosslinked with an MMP-RGD-bearing peptide, human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) photosoftened in situ (2.27→0.54 kPa, ∼76%) spread approximately six-fold relative to stiff controls (∼6,500 vs. ∼1,100 µm 2 , p < 0.0001). This work demonstrates a synthetically accessible photocleavable crosslinker and a simple, macroporous hydrogel for modulating dynamic mechanical cues in three dimensions.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.13.737088
  24. Nat Mater. 2026 Aug;25(8): 1305
    Intercalated conductive fibres.
    Guanlan Zhao.
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02681-9
  25. Nature. 2026 Jul 29.
    Alternating CO2 and bicycloalkane copolymerization to circular polyesters.
    Min Zhu, Xavier Westworth, Yingluo Zhao, Gaurav S Deshmukh, Deepak K Barange, Tao Zhang, Ravikumar R Gowda, Linda J Broadbelt, Eugene Y-X Chen.
      Transforming abundant but inert CO2 into useful polymers has been pursued since the 1960s (ref. 1) and has typically been achieved by copolymerization with a reactive comonomer, aided by a catalyst, which can address both thermodynamic constraints and high kinetic barriers associated with CO2 fixation and incorporation2-5. However, making polyesters remains a challenge as alternating copolymerization of CO2 with alkenes is thermodynamically infeasible6. Here we introduce a closed-loop CO2-based polyester platform for producing high-performance yet recyclable polyesters by direct alternating copolymerization of CO2 with bicycloalkanes, bicyclic butane (BCB) and pentane (BCP) monomers. This copolymerization is initiated by a simple organic catalyst and proceeds in a perfectly alternating fashion to high-molar-mass polyesters with maximum (50 mol%) CO2 incorporation and architecturally defined backbones, in which the in-chain ring structure enables tailorable thermal and mechanical properties. These polyesters exhibit desired orthogonal performance and end-of-life outcomes. Although the BCB-CO2 polyesters exhibit exceptional thermal and hydrolytic stability across the full pH range, they can be selectively depolymerized in bulk and base-catalysed conditions to regenerate pure BCB monomers in >90% isolated yield. The BCP-CO2 polyesters can also be selectively depolymerized but to bicyclolactones. Sequential depolymerization-repolymerization cycles establish circular lifecycles for BCB/BCP-CO2 high-performance polyesters.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10848-2
  26. Mater Horiz. 2026 Jul 29.
    Visco-Bits: temporal-coding-inspired viscoelastic metamaterial for mechanical memory expansion.
    Aman Thakkar, Jose R Rivas-Padilla, Andres F Arrieta.
      Interest in mechanical computing has surged in recent years, but direct translations from digital to mechanical computation, especially in the context of von Neumann architectures, face scalability challenges. These challenges necessitate alternative strategies beyond miniaturization to enhance information density and facilitate the development of intelligent structures. Neuromorphic architectures that rely on in-memory computing can help overcome these scalability constraints. Additionally, using mechanical properties as a mechanism for information encoding and decoding paves the way to utilize these structures in applications where energy resources are limited or embedded electronics are not feasible. In this paper, we leverage the response of viscoelastic mechanical metamaterial blocks to realize memory augmentation and in-material computation from temporal neural coding. We use an asymmetric bistable viscoelastic mechano-bit abstraction to encode information and a protocol for decoding state information using the global stiffness of the mechanical storage system. We derive fundamental limits on memory capacity for a mechanical memory made from elastic mechano-bits and identify a geometric stiffness design rule to ensure global stiffness uniqueness for each bit elastic memory block combination. The transient memory augmentation is achieved via the combined response of our neuron-inspired viscoelastic mechano-bits (Visco-Bits), showing temporal stiffness modulation that yields augmented mechanical memory storage from the resulting non-abelian, path-dependent mechanical behavior. Subsequently, we examine the information entropy gained by using such viscoelastic mechano-bits and demonstrate that this can exceed the conventional n-bit limit for digital storage. This abstraction of transient memory augmentation can be extended to any mechanical, electrical, or optical system capable of exhibiting temporal modulation in a physical property. We show this via a physical demonstration of a 2-unit viscoelastic memory block and establish the maximum time limit for which the order-dependent memory expansion occurs. Finally, we explore the utility of augmenting the in-memory computational capabilities in viscoelastic metamaterials by temporally encoding two distinct logic gate operations in our Visco-Bit memory block.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1039/d6mh00721j
  27. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2026 Jul 25.
    Design of High-Performance, Robust, and Recyclable Epoxy Resins.
    Vatsalya Gupta, Ramkrishna Sarkar.
      The inherent non-recyclability of epoxy resins (ERs), a major sustainability barrier, can be addressed by incorporating dynamic covalent linkages. However, conventional approaches to design reprocessable ERs typically require the preinstallation of dynamic motifs within monomers, making synthesis a multistep process. Besides, their thermal and mechanical robustness often remains inferior to that of the conventional ERs. Here, we present a strategy for designing robust yet fully reprocessable ERs via thiol-epoxy "click" reactions that rely on thioether exchange for the dynamic exchange. Unlike conventional thiol-epoxy "click" reactions that generate permanent thioether linkages upon polymerization, the current study demonstrates the in-situ generation of dynamic thioether linkages during the thiol-epoxy "click" reaction, thus obviating the need for pre-installed dynamic motifs within monomers. The resulting ERs exhibited thermal stability and storage modulus at 30 °C (G'30°C) comparable to those of various commercial ERs. Notably, control over Tg, modulus, and relaxation dynamics can be achieved by regulating the cross-link density in the ERs. The networks demonstrated superior creep resistance, with negligible permanent deformation even up to 120 °C. Additionally, the robust and dynamic thioether linkages in the ERs were leveraged to demonstrate a reversible dual shape-memory effect and a promising adhesion ability to aluminum and steel substrates. Finally, the degradation of ERs in the presence of excess thiol was demonstrated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to introduce dynamic thioether linkages for designing robust, fully reprocessable, and creep-resistant ERs, demonstrating their adhesive behavior and a suitable end-of-life degradability.
    Keywords:  adhesive; creep-resistance; dual shape memory; epoxy resins; reprocessability; transthioetherification
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c07766
  28. Stem Cell Res. 2026 Jul 24. pii: S1873-5061(26)00164-9. [Epub ahead of print]95 104068
    Engineering STRAIGHT-IN single and dual lines in the male iPS11 parental line for programmable DNA integration.
    Albert Blanch-Asensio, Derin R Gumustop, Nathan B Wang, Emma L Peterman, Deon S Ploessl, Kate E Galloway.
      STRAIGHT-IN is a genome engineering platform that enables precise integration of DNA payloads into mammalian genomes, including hiPSCs. In this study, we generated three hiPSC acceptor lines containing either one (single) or two (dual) landing pads. These landing pads support efficient, seamless integration of DNA cargos with single-copy control and a near-scarless genomic footprint. All landing pads were targeted to the CLYBL genomic safe harbor locus in the male hiPSC line iPS11. The resulting acceptor lines offer a versatile resource for the controlled genomic integration of diverse transgenes, making them broadly applicable to a wide range of applications.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scr.2026.104068
  29. Adv Mater. 2026 Jul 28. e74064
    Meniscus-Guided Interfacial Ring-by-Ring Assembly for In Situ Fabrication of Tubular Hydrogels.
    Yuki Kamiya, Yingzhe Wang, Keisuke Morishima.
      The fabrication of arteriole-scale blood vessel-like structures remains a critical barrier in engineering thick, vascularized tissues. Despite advances in artery-scale tubular scaffolds and capillary-scale networks, creating tubular structures at the arteriole scale (50 µm-1 mm) remains challenging because of the intrinsic softness of hydrogels. Here, we present an optofluidic additive-manufacturing method based on meniscus-guided interfacial polymerization within microchannels. Surface tension forms a stable oil-hydrogel interface, where ultraviolet (UV) irradiation selectively polymerizes the hydrogel precursor into ring-like structures. Sequential ring formation along the channel enables in situ assembly of hollow tubular constructs with inner diameters precisely controlled by the axial irradiation position. The method is further extended to biologically relevant softer hydrogels, and UV attenuation analysis and PBS incubation support the structural uniformity and stability of the fabricated tubes. Hydrogel tubes with straight, curved, and branching configurations are fabricated using corresponding microchannel architectures. Multi-material tubular structures with radial and axial compositions are also realized while reducing material-switching steps and waste. Furthermore, synchronizing real-time meniscus detection with UV irradiation enables continuous ring formation and smooth tube walls. This method provides a versatile platform for constructing arteriole-scale vascular-like hydrogel structures with controlled geometries, stability, and material compositions.
    Keywords:  hydrogels; interfacial polymerization; tubular structures
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74064
  30. bioRxiv. 2026 Jul 29. pii: 2026.07.19.739412. [Epub ahead of print]
    Identifying endogenous substrates of the 26S proteasome through site-specific photocrosslinking.
    Santiago Yori Restrepo, Andreas Martin.
      The 26S proteasome is the hub for regulated protein turnover in eukaryotic cells. Degradation of proteins by the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System plays critical roles in every aspect of cell biology, such as the regulation of gene transcription, the quality control of translation and protein folding, and protein transport across membranes. While mRNA levels and protein abundances can be readily measured with a robust set of established tools, only a few methodologies exist to identify proteins that are degraded by the proteasome rather than the lysosome as the second major pathway for turnover. Here, we sought to address this by using genetic code expansion to introduce a photo-crosslinkable unnatural amino acid into the yeast 26S proteasome and capture cellular protein substrates as they translocate through the proteasomal ATPase motor. In vitro biochemical experiments confirmed that these modified proteasomes are functional, which allowed us to introduce them into live yeast cells for in vivo crosslinking and the identification of enriched ATP-dependent substrates by mass spectrometry. These experiments revealed a very diverse pool of proteasomal substrates that markedly changed upon cell exposure to endoplasmic reticulum stress. Together, our results represent an exciting avenue for probing the landscape of proteasomal substrates and its changes in response to various cellular conditions and stresses.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.19.739412
  31. Nature. 2026 Jul 29.
    Miniaturizing and modifying natural proteins with Raygun.
    Kapil Devkota, Daichi Shonai, Joey Mao, Young Su Ko, Wei Wang, Scott Soderling, Rohit Singh.
      Proteins have evolved over billions of years through coordinated substitutions, insertions and deletions, yet computational protein design cannot fully replicate nature's ability to engineer new proteins from existing templates. Protein language models1-3 generate informative per-residue representations, but harnessing them for large-scale, function-preserving sequence modifications has remained beyond reach. Here we introduce Raygun, a generative artificial intelligence framework that enables miniaturization, modification and augmentation of proteins, using a probabilistic encoding of protein sequences constructed from language model embeddings. Our key conceptual advance is to encode each protein not as a sequence of variable length in high-dimensional space, but as a probability distribution in fixed dimensions, making proteins of any length directly commensurable. Controlled by just two parameters governing substitutions and length changes, Raygun can shrink proteins by 10-25% (sometimes more than 50%), expand them beyond their natural size, and introduce extensive sequence diversity, all while preserving predicted structural integrity and functional sites. In cell-based validation, Raygun miniaturized fluorescent proteins (2 shorter than 96% of fluorescent proteins in FPbase) and TurboID, a synthetic biotin ligase that has been widely adopted for proteomics. It also expanded epidermal growth factor (EGF), generating variants with higher EGFR-binding affinity than the wild type. These results show that protein function can be faithfully captured in a length-agnostic representation, enabling the kind of coordinated, large-scale sequence modifications that characterize natural protein evolution.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10842-8
  32. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 Aug 04. 123(31): e2619023123
    Coupled metabolic reactions relevant to early biological evolution.
    Hendrik Boog, Peter J Unrau.
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2619023123
  33. Nat Mater. 2026 Jul 27.
    Non-reciprocal linearly polarized light in simple media.
    Thomas J Ugras, Daniel J Gracias, Reilly P Lynch, Oriol Arteaga, Richard D Robinson.
      Reciprocity-the principle that a response is identical along the forward and backward paths-is a fundamental concept across physics. Non-reciprocity occurs when this symmetry is broken, resulting in direction-dependent behaviour. Achieving optical non-reciprocity typically requires complex metamaterials, exotic media or strong fields. Researchers have overlooked the possibility that conventional materials could support optical non-reciprocity. Here, through the Stokes-Mueller formalism, we predict a pathway to non-reciprocal absorption and emission of orthogonal linear polarizations. We test this idea using solution-processed films of CdS, CdSe and CdTe magic-size clusters with comparable circular and linear dichroism, and demonstrate non-reciprocal absorption and emission of linearly polarized light. Based on these findings, several design rules and practical applications are presented. Our work reveals that non-reciprocal linear dichroism and emission can be achieved in readily processable materials by harnessing chiral-linear optical interference, providing opportunities within polarization-based quantum optics and photonics such as direction-dependent optical routing or polarization-multiplexed encryption.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02660-0
  34. Biomacromolecules. 2026 Jul 26.
    Polysarcosine as a PEG Alternative Feedstock for 3D Digital Light Processing of Tunable Biocompatible Hydrogels.
    Guonan Ji, Na Zhao, Gianluca Bartolini Torres, Ziyuan Song, Caroline Curtin, Andreas Heise, Robert D Murphy.
      In this contribution, a series of 4-arm and 8-arm star-shaped polysarcosine methacrylates (4-PSar-MA and 8-PSar-MA) macromers were developed through controlled ring-opening polymerization of sarcosine N-carboxyanhydride (NCA) followed by terminal methacrylation. Photorheological analysis of these well-defined macromers demonstrated rapid light-induced gelation and tunable viscoelastic behavior, with controllable swelling and compression properties, revealing topology-dependent mechanical tunability. The 4-PSar-MA resin could readily produce high-fidelity 3D hydrogel constructs via digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing, including complex geometries such as a panda, a chess rook, and a 3DBenchy boat, with smooth interfaces and features. Encapsulated MC3T3 preosteoblasts maintained high viability under in situ photo-cross-linking, confirming cytocompatibility of the PSar-based matrix. Collectively, this work introduces the first photocurable star-polysarcosine system for DLP 3D printing, providing a chemically defined and structurally tunable hydrogel platform for advanced soft-material and biomedical applications.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.6c00940
  35. bioRxiv. 2026 Jul 13. pii: 2026.07.10.737808. [Epub ahead of print]
    De novo design of selective kinase modulators.
    Magnus S Bauer, Saurav Kumar, Mia Donald-Paladino, Dongyang Li, Kody A Klupt, Matthias Glögl, Ana María Fernández Escamilla, Thomas Schlichthaerle, Edin Muratspahić, Xinru Wang, Ludwig Schmiderer, Sebastian Kenny, Brian Coventry, Bulat Faezov, Wei Chen, Alex F Shida, Gyu Rie Lee, Yang Hsia, Ryan D Kibler, Michael B Elowitz, Daniel Lietha, Behnam Nabet, David Baker.
      Protein kinases are critical regulators of cellular signaling, but precise modulation of their activity remains challenging due to their high structural conservation. Here, we present de novo designed genetically encoded miniproteins capable of activating or inhibiting focal adhesion kinase (FAK) by directly targeting the kinase domain itself. Among 96 binders designed to stabilize distinct conformational states of FAK, 33 modulated kinase activity. Biochemical characterization of the four most potent modulators revealed that two designs inhibit FAK with low-nanomolar IC 50 values while the remaining two potentiated FAK activity by more than two-fold. When expressed in cells, the modulators preserved the same inhibitory and activating effects observed in vitro, establishing that designed conformational binders can directly tune FAK signaling in living cells. Taking advantage of the high similarity between kinases, we redesigned the FAK inhibitors to inhibit Src kinase. Our approach establishes a versatile platform for selective and genetically encoded kinase control as a way to rewire cell signaling and as a starting point for the discovery of novel modulatory sites of kinases.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.10.737808
  36. Adv Mater. 2026 Jul 28. e74367
    One-Step Direct Writing and In Situ Poling of Ultrathin Piezoelectric Microarchitectures for Organ-Conformal Stretchable Biointerfaces.
    Guo Tian, Weili Deng, Li'ang Zhou, Tao Yang, Boling Lan, Shenglong Wang, Yue Sun, Yong Ao, Tianpei Xu, Longchao Huang, Long Jin, Weiqing Yang, Ghim Wei Ho.
      The development of ultrathin, stretchable piezoelectric biointerfaces is fundamentally constrained by the lack of manufacturing strategies capable of simultaneously delivering precise microarchitectural patterning and stable polarization in mechanically compliant formats. Here, we report a one-step electrohydrodynamic (EHD) direct-writing strategy with in situ poling, enabling the concurrent fabrication and polarization of free-standing, ultrathin piezoelectric microarchitectures without post-processing. By coupling this manufacturing approach with a mechanism-guided design based on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and piezoelectric P(VDF-TrFE) through controlled modulation of EHD deposition and polymer crystallization, we manipulate grain size and flatten the polarization barrier by introducing structural heterogeneity to achieve a high and stable piezoelectric coefficient of 34.5 pm V-1 in a highly stretchable architecture. The resulting sub-20 µm serpentine microarchitectures exhibit excellent mechanical compliance, long-term piezoelectric stability and deterministic architectural programmability. Integration with a breathable, controlled-adhesion elastomeric biointerface ensures robust conformal coupling to soft, wet tissue. Ex vivo demonstrations validate reliable detection and classification of gastric mechanical states, highlighting a manufacturing-enabled platform for organ-conformal piezoelectric biointerfaces. This work offers a generalizable strategy to overcome long-standing trade-offs between piezoelectric performance, stretchability, and ultrathin form factors, paving the way for diverse applications in biointegrated electronics and soft sensing, and healthcare systems.
    Keywords:  bioelectronics; electrohydrodynamic printing; gastrointestinal monitoring; personalized healthcare; piezoelectric materials; pressure sensor
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74367
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