Structural engineered living materials

Biological structural materials not only exhibit remarkable mechanical properties but also often embody dynamic characteristics such as environmental responsiveness,autonomy,and self-healing,which are difficult to achieve in conventional engineering materials.By merging materials science,synthetic biology,and other disciplines,engineered living materials(ELMs)provide a promising solution to combine living organisms with abiotic components,thus facilitating the construction of functional“living”materials.Like natural materials,ELMs possess vitality and hold immense application potential in areas such as medicine,electronics,and construction,captivating increasing research attention recently.As an emerging branch of ELMs,structural ELMs aim to mimic living biological structural materials by achieving desired mechanical performance while maintaining important“living”characteristics.Here we summarize the recent progress and provide our perspectives for this emerging research area.We first summarize the superiority of structural ELMs by reviewing biological structural materials and biomimetic material design strategies.Subsequently,we provide a systematic discussion on the definition and classifications of structural ELMs,their mechanical performance,and physiological behaviors.Finally,we summarize some critical challenges faced by structural ELMs and highlight directions of future development.We hope this review article can provide a timely summary of the state of the art and relevant perspectives for future development of structural ELMs.

Living Materials for Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine has been attracting tremendous attention during the past few decades because it is promising in overcoming the limitations of donor shortage and immune complications in direct transplantations.The ongoing progress in this field calls for the rapid growth of living materials,which consist of live biological agents and can be designed together with synthetic materials to meet the application demands of regenerative medicine.In this review,we present a summary of the state-of-the-art progress of living materials that are applied in regenerative medicine.We first introduce the advanced engineering approaches that are employed to prepare living materials containing live cells,typically including genetic engineering,cell coating,microfluidics,and bioprinting,etc.Afterwards,we enumerate different application aspects of living materials in regenerative medicine,including tissue scaffold,cell therapy,tissue models,and so on.Finally,we give a concise conclusion and provide a perspective of this field.

An Innovative Self-formation Strategy to Hierarchically Micro-meso-Macroporous Functional Structures for Living Materials

1 Results Facing the important global warming,the exhaustion of crude materials and oil,the super-consumption of energy and the recent and constant sharp increase in the price of crude oil,new materials with advanced properties and multi-functionality can be once again the driving force and the motor to find some issues of these important challenges of our modern society and human life.Recent interest has been devoted to the development of synthesis and processing procedures for preparing porous materia...

Genetically engineered materials:Proteins and beyond

Information-rich molecules provide opportunities for evolution.Genetically engineered materials are superior in that their properties are coded within genetic sequences and could be fine-tuned.In this review,we elaborate the concept of genetically engineered materials(GEMs)using examples ranging from engineered protein materials to engineered living materials.Proteinbased materials are the materials of choice by nature.Recent progress in protein engineering has led to opportunities to tune their sequences for optimal material performance.Proteins also play a central role in living materials where they act in concert with other biological components as well as nonbiological cofactors,giving rise to living features.While the existing GEMs are often limited to those constructed by building blocks of biological origin,being genetically engineerable does not preclude nonbiologic or synthetic materials,the latter of which have yet to be fully explored.

Probing the growth and mechanical properties of Bacillus subtilis biofilms through genetic mutation strategies

Bacterial communities form biofilms on various surfaces by synthesizing a cohesive and protective extracellular matrix,and these biofilms protect microorganisms against harsh environmental conditions.Bacillus subtilis is a widely used experimental species,and its biofilms are used as representative models of beneficial biofilms.Specifically,B.subtilis biofilms are known to be rich in extracellular polymeric substances(EPS)and other biopolymers such as DNA and proteins like the amyloid protein TasA and the hydrophobic protein BslA.These materials,which form an interconnected,cohesive,three-dimensional polymer network,provide the mechanical stability of biofilms and mediate their adherence to surfaces among other functional contributions.Here,we explored how genetically-encoded components specifically contribute to regulate the growth status,mechanical properties,and antibiotic resistance of B.subtilis biofilms,thereby establishing a solid empirical basis for understanding how various genetic engineering efforts are likely to affect the structure and function of biofilms.We noted discrete contributions to biofilm morphology,mechanical properties,and survival from major biofilm components such as EPS,TasA and BslA.For example,EPS plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the mechanical properties and the antibiotic resistance of biofilms,whereas BslA has a significant impact on the resolution that can be obtained for printing applications.This work provides a deeper understanding of the internal interactions of biofilm components through systematic genetic manipulations.It thus not only broadens the application prospects of beneficial biofilms,but also serves as the basis of future strategies for targeting and effectively removing harmful biofilms.

Human Lives Are More Valuable Than Material Possessions——My Reflections on "Face to Face with Hurricane Camille"

“Face to face With Hurricane Camilleisa Piece of narration writ-ten by Joseph P.Blank.It has been adopted by text-book compilers of various countries ever since its first publication in The Readers Digest,March1970.A Searlyas1973,Nat-aliC.