The mechanical mismatch between soft neural tissues and stiff neural implants hinders the use of these devices. To overcome this obstacle, researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) led by Grégoire Courtine and Stéphanie Lacour sought to create neural implants with mechanical properties matching those of host tissues. They fashioned implants to mimic theContinueContinue reading “A biocompatible neural implant”
Tag Archives: bioengineering
How oxygen lights the firefly’s lantern
Fireflies communicate using light flashes produced when the compound luciferin is broken down in the presence of oxygen. This process has many potential applications, such as testing drugs, monitoring water contamination and using luminescent vegetation to provide street lighting, which are limited by our poor understanding of how oxygen is delivered to fireflies’ light-producing cells.ContinueContinue reading “How oxygen lights the firefly’s lantern”
Silk strong enough to bind broken bones
To repair fractured bone, screws made of metal alloys are the gold standard. But these devices can impair bone remodeling and healing and may also corrode, causing pain and inflammation and necessitating their removal. Biodegradable alternatives eliminate some of these concerns but present their own disadvantages: they can trigger inflammation, they are not strong enoughContinueContinue reading “Silk strong enough to bind broken bones”
Monkeying with monkey genes
Advances in genome-editing techniques have enabled researchers to create specific genetic modifications in laboratory animals such as mice, rats, fruit flies and zebrafish. This is often done to create models of human diseases that can be studied to learn about their etiology, pathology and mechanisms and to test potential therapeutic strategies. But many human diseasesContinueContinue reading “Monkeying with monkey genes”
The shape of monitoring to come
Engineers led by John Rogers (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) have created a three-dimensional, electrode-bearing, elastic membrane that can be wrapped directly around a beating heart and used to measure the electrical, mechanical, chemical and physical properties across its entire surface without disrupting cardiac function (Nat. Commun. doi:10.1038/ncomms4329; published online 25 February 2014). Lab Anim.ContinueContinue reading “The shape of monitoring to come”
From stem cells to organ germs to functional glands
Takashi Tsuji’s lab at Tokyo University of Science (Japan) focuses on innovative organ replacement techniques. They developed a method of generating organ germs from stem cells ex vivo by mimicking the in vivo epithelial–mesenchymal interactions that drive functional development. The bioengineered organ germs can then be transplanted into organisms to replace disordered or damaged organs.ContinueContinue reading “From stem cells to organ germs to functional glands”
Bioengineered kidneys at work in rats
Kidney failure affects nearly 1 million people in the US. Without treatment, it results in the retention of excess water and waste products in the body. Renal failure can be reversed by transplanting kidneys from matched donors, but the supply of donated kidneys is insufficient to meet demand, and ~20% of transplants undergo organ rejectionContinueContinue reading “Bioengineered kidneys at work in rats”
The measure of a spider’s silk
As anyone who has unwittingly walked into a web can attest, spider silk is among the strongest yet stretchiest fibers known. Standardized by weight, it is five times stronger than piano wire. Its exceptional mechanical properties make spider silk of great interest in materials science. Yet our understanding of these characteristics is limited because theContinueContinue reading “The measure of a spider’s silk”
Inspired by mussels, a strong adhesive
Bivalve mollusks, such as the blue mussel Mytilus edulis, inhabit coastal waters, attached firmly to rocks and other fixed substrates despite the wet environment and continual, sometimes intense, tidal and wave action. Mussels achieve this remarkable feat by secreting unique protein-based adhesive materials that cement them to their chosen surfaces. These adhesives cure quickly andContinueContinue reading “Inspired by mussels, a strong adhesive”
‘Transient’ devices from silk, silicon and magnesium
A cross-disciplinary collaboration between Fiorenzo Omenetto, a biomedical engineer at Tufts University, Medford, MA, and John Rogers, a materials scientist at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, has yielded tiny new electronic devices that completely dissolve when they are no longer needed (Science 337, 1640–1644; 2012). These ‘physically transient’ electronics are built from silicon, the preferredContinueContinue reading “‘Transient’ devices from silk, silicon and magnesium”
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