FET-based nanobiosensors for the detection of smell and taste

Various nanobiosensors composed of biomaterials and nanomaterials have been developed, due to their demonstrated advantage of showing high performance. Among various biomaterials for biological recognition elements of the nanobiosensor, sensory receptors, such as olfactory and taste receptors, are promising biomaterials for developing nanobiosensors, because of their high selectivity to target molecules. Field-effect transistors(FET) with nanomaterials such as carbon nanotube(CNT), graphene, and conducting polymer nanotube(CPNT), can be combined with the biomaterials to enhance the sensitivity of nanobiosensors.Recently, many efforts have been made to develop nanobiosensors using biomaterials, such as olfactory receptors and taste receptors for detecting various smells and tastes. This review focuses on the biomaterials and nanomaterials used in nanobiosensor systems and studies of various types of nanobiosensor platforms that utilize olfactory receptors and taste receptors which could be applied to a wide range of industrial fields, including the food and beverage industry, environmental monitoring, the biomedical field, and anti-terrorism.     

骨生物材料通过细胞途径降解的研究进展

生物材料作为移植物已广泛应用于骨组织修复,在应用生物材料时需要考虑材料各个方面的性能,如生物兼容性、力学强度、可塑性等。材料的可降解性也是骨修复材料不得不考虑的方面。既往研究表明,生物材料可以通过物理、化学和生物三种方式进行降解。在材料的生物降解过程中,经细胞途径降解是其中重要的一环。这种降解途径主要是通过巨噬细胞、破骨细胞的生物学行为及其所分泌的生物活性氧、酶、酸性代谢物等作用机制进行。认识细胞作用对生物材料的降解有助于更好地理解细胞的生物学行为,精准设计、制造更合理的骨修复材料,既利于材料植入时的初始稳定,也可以符合材料降解与新骨形成的匹配,促进骨再生和骨修复。     

Neutron activation analysis of biological samples with a preirradiation chemical separation

A preirradiation separation procedure has been developed to separate Al, Cu, Mn, and V from biological materials. Chelex-100 resin is used as the separation medium, and the resin is irradiated directly. Three NIST biological Standard Reference Materials and five samples of human blood serum, obtained under carefully controlled conditions, have been analyzed by NAA following this separation.     

Advanced biomaterials and their potential applications in the treatment of periodontal disease

Periodontal disease is considered as a widespread infectious disease and the most common cause of tooth loss in adults. Attempts for developing periodontal disease treatment strategies, including drug delivery and regeneration approaches, provide a useful experimental model for the evaluation of future periodontal therapies. Recently, emerging advanced biomaterials including hydrogels, films, micro/nanofibers and particles, hold great potential to be utilized as cell/drug carriers for local drug delivery and biomimetic scaffolds for future regeneration therapies. In this review, first, we describe the pathogenesis of periodontal disease, including plaque formation, immune response and inflammatory reactions caused by bacteria. Second, periodontal therapy and an overview of current biomaterials in periodontal regenerative medicine have been discussed. Third, the roles of state-of-the-art biomaterials, including hydrogels, films, micro/nanofibers and micro/nanoparticles, developed for periodontal disease treatment and periodontal tissue regeneration, and their fabrication methods, have been presented. Finally, biological properties, including biocompatibility, biodegradability and immunogenicity of the biomaterials, together with their current applications strategies are given. Conclusive remarks and future perspectives for such advanced biomaterials are discussed.     

Synthetic biomaterials as instructive extracellular microenvironments for morphogenesis in tissue engineering

New generations of synthetic biomaterials are being developed at a rapid pace for use as three-dimensional extracellular microenvironments to mimic the regulatory characteristics of natural extracellular matrices (ECMs) and ECM-bound growth factors, both for therapeutic applications and basic biological studies. Recent advances include nanofibrillar networks formed by self-assembly of small building blocks, artificial ECM networks from protein polymers or peptide-conjugated synthetic polymers that present bioactive ligands and respond to cell-secreted signals to enable proteolytic remodeling. These materials have already found application in differentiating stem cells into neurons, repairing bone and inducing angiogenesis. Although modern synthetic biomaterials represent oversimplified mimics of natural ECMs lacking the essential natural temporal and spatial complexity, a growing symbiosis of materials engineering and cell biology may ultimately result in synthetic materials that contain the necessary signals to recapitulate developmental processes in tissue- and organ-specific differentiation and morphogenesis.     

Development and therapeutic applications of advanced biomaterials

Millions of patients worldwide have benefited from technological innovation from biomaterials. Yet, while life expectancy continues to increase, organ failure and traumatic injury continue to fill hospitals and diminish the quality of life. Advances in understanding disease and tissue regeneration combined with increased accessibility of modern technology have created new opportunities for the use of biomaterials in unprecedented ways. Materials can now be rapidly created and selected to target specific cells, change shape in response to external stimulus, and instruct tissue regeneration. Here we describe a few of these technologies with emphasis on targeted drug delivery vehicles, high-throughput material synthesis, minimally invasive biodegradable shape-memory materials, and development of strategies to enhance tissue regeneration through delivery of instructive materials.     

Biomimetic approaches to protein and gene delivery for tissue regeneration

Novel therapeutic strategies that promote wound healing seek to mimic the response of the body to wounding, to regenerate rather than repair injured tissues. Many synthetic or natural biomaterials have been developed for this purpose and are used to deliver wound therapeutics in a controlled manner that prevents unwanted and potentially harmful side-effects. Here, we review the natural and synthetic biomaterials that have been developed for protein and gene delivery to enhance tissue regeneration. Particular emphasis is placed on novel biomimetic materials that respond to environmental stimuli or release their cargo according to cellular demand. Engineering biomaterials to release therapeutic agents in response to physiologic signals mimics the natural healing process and can promote faster tissue regeneration and reduce scarring in severe acute or chronic wounds.     

Smart materials as scaffolds for tissue engineering

In this review, we focused our attention on the more important natural extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules (collagen and fibrin), employed as cellular scaffolds for tissue engineering and on a class of semi-synthetic materials made from the fusion of specific oligopeptide sequences, showing biological activities, with synthetic materials. In particular, these new "intelligent" scaffolds may contain oligopeptide cleaving sequences specific for matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), integrin binding domains, growth factors, anti-thrombin sequences, plasmin degradation sites, and morphogenetic proteins. The aim was to confer to these new "intelligent" semi-synthetic biomaterials, the advantages offered by both the synthetic materials (processability, mechanical strength) and by the natural materials (specific cell recognition, cellular invasion, and the ability to supply differentiation/proliferation signals). Due to their characteristics, these semi-synthetic biomaterials represent a new and versatile class of biomimetic hybrid materials that hold clinical promise in serving as implants to promote wound healing and tissue regeneration.     

Xeroprotectants for the stabilization of biomaterials

With the advancement of science and technology, it is crucial to have effective preservation methods for the stable long-term storage of biological material (biomaterials). As an alternative to cryopreservation, various techniques have been developed, which are based on the survival mechanism of anhydrobiotic organisms. In this sense, it has been found that the synthesis of xeroprotectants can effectively stabilize biomaterials in a dry state. The most widely studied xeroprotectant is trehalose, which has excellent properties for the stabilization of certain proteins, bacteria, and biological membranes. There have also been attempts to apply trehalose to the stabilization of eukaryotic cells but without conclusive results. Consequently, a xeroprotectant or method that is useful for the stable drying of a particular biomaterial might not necessarily be suitable for another one. This article provides an overview of recent advances in the use of new techniques to stabilize biomaterials and compare xeroprotectants with other more standard methods.     

生物活性材料与牙周组织再生

生物活性材料是一类经由材料表面或界面产生特殊生物或化学反应,从而影响组织和材料间的结合、诱发细胞活性或引导组织再生的生物材料。近年来,生物活性材料已广泛应用于牙周组织再生。本文对不同类型生物活性材料的特点及其在牙周组织再生中的作用进行综述,为推动其在牙周组织再生领域中的应用提供参考。     

The role played by modified bioinspired surfaces in interfacial properties of biomaterials

The success of a biomaterial relies on an appropriate interaction between the surface of that biomaterial and the surrounding environment; more specifically, the success of a biomaterial depends on how fluids, proteins, and cells interact with the foreign material. For this reason, the surface properties of biomaterial, such as composition, charge, wettability, and roughness, must be optimized for a desired application to be achieved. In this review we highlight different bioinspired approaches that are used to manipulate and fine-tune the interfacial properties of biomaterials. Inspired by noteworthy natural processes, researchers have developed materials with a functional anatomy that range from hierarchical hybrid structures to self-cleaning interfaces. In this review we focus on (1) the creation of particles and modified surfaces inspired by the structure and composition of biogenic mineralized tissues, (2) the development of biofunctional coatings, (3) materials inspired by biomembranes and proteins, and (4) the design of superwettable materials. Our intention is to point out different bioinspired methodologies that have been used to design materials for biomedical applications and to discuss how interfacial properties modified by manipulation of these materials determine their final biological response. Our objective is to present future research directions and to highlight the potential of bioinspired materials. We hope this review will provide an understanding of the interplay between interfacial properties and biological response so that successful biomaterials can be achieved.     

Nanoscale engineering of biomimetic surfaces: cues from the extracellular matrix

The ultimate goal in the design of biomimetic materials for use in tissue engineering as permanent or resorbable tissue implants is to generate biocompatible scaffolds with appropriate biomechanical and chemical properties to allow the adhesion, ingrowth, and survival of cells. Recent efforts have therefore focused on the construction and modification of biomimetic surfaces targeted to support tissue-specific cell functions including adhesion, growth, differentiation, motility, and the expression of tissue-specific genes. Four decades of extensive research on the structure and biological influence of the extracellular matrix (ECM) on cell behavior and cell fate have shown that three types of information from the ECM are relevant for the design of biomimetic surfaces: (1) physical properties (elasticity, stiffness, resilience of the cellular environment), (2) specific chemical signals from peptide epitopes contained in a wide variety of extracelluar matrix molecules, and (3) the nanoscale topography of microenvironmental adhesive sites. Initial physical and chemical approaches aimed at improving the adhesiveness of biomaterial surfaces by sandblasting, particle coating, or etching have been supplemented by attempts to increase the bioactivity of biomaterials by coating them with ECM macromolecules, such as fibronectin, elastin, laminin, and collagens, or their integrin-binding epitopes including RGD, YIGSR, and GFOGER. Recently, the development of new nanotechnologies such as photo- or electron-beam nanolithography, polymer demixing, nano-imprinting, compression molding, or the generation of TiO₂ nanotubes of defined diameters (15–200 nm), has opened up the possibility of constructing biomimetic surfaces with a defined nanopattern, eliciting tissue-specific cellular responses by stimulating integrin clustering. This development has provided new input into the design of novel biomaterials. The new technologies allowing the construction of a geometrically defined microenvironment for cells at the nanoscale should facilitate the investigation of nanotopography-dependent mechanisms of integrin-mediated cell signaling.     

A practical perspective on ulvan extracted from green algae

Researchers have many times turned their attention to nature and biological processes to develop novel technologies and materials. In a medical perspective, nature-based products are believed to be a strategic alternative approach to the use of fully synthetic materials, particularly in the design of medical devices. In the past decades, marine organisms have become the focus of considerable attention as potential sources of valuable materials. The sustainable exploitation and valorisation of natural marine resources constitutes a highly attractive and strategic platform for the development of novel biomaterials, with both economic and environmental benefits. In this context, algae are known to synthesise large quantities of polysaccharides and are well established sources of these particularly interesting molecules, many of which are known for their applicability in the design of biomaterials. Agar, carrageenan and alginates are some of the most known examples, and their uses can range from food to biomedical applications. However, few of the world’s available seaweed species are used commercially. Among the three main divisions of macroalgae (Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta), the green algae remain largely unexploited in this biomedical arena. While the demand for novel materials and technologies increases, so does the research of unexploited marine green algae including its unique polysaccharide ulvan.     

Recent Advances in Biomaterial-Based High-Throughput Platforms

High-throughput systems allow screening and analysis of large number of samples simultaneously under same conditions. Over recent years, high-throughput systems have found applications in fields other than drug discovery like bioprocess industries, pollutant detection, material microarrays, etc. With the introduction of materials in such HT platforms, the screening system has been enabled for solid phases apart from conventional solution phase. The use of biomaterials has further facilitated cell-based assays in such platforms. Here, the authors have focused on the recent developments in biomaterial-based platforms including the fabricationusing contact and non-contact methods and utilization of such platforms for discovery of novel biomaterials exploiting interaction of biological entities with surface and bulk properties. Finally, the authors have elaborated on the application of the biomaterial-based high-throughput platforms in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, cancer and stem cell studies. The studies show encouraging applications of biomaterial microarrays. However, success in clinical applicability still seems to be a far off task majorly due to absence of robust characterization and analysis techniques. Extensive focus is required for developing personalized medicine, analytical tools and storage/shelf-life of cell laden microarrays.     

Design of biomass-based renewable materials for environmental remediation

Various materials have been used to remove environmental contaminants for decades and have been an effective strategy for environmental cleanups. The current nonrenewable materials used for this purpose could impose secondary hazards and challenges in further downstream treatments. Biomass-based materials present viable, renewable, and sustainable solutions for environmental remediation. Recent biotechnology advances have developed biomaterials with new capacities, such as highly efficient biodegradation and treatment train integration. This review systemically discusses how biotechnology has empowered biomass-derived and bioinspired materials for environmental remediation sustainably and cost-effectively.     

Biomolecule imprinting: Developments in mimicking dynamic natural recognition systems

The principle of molecular imprinting has repeatedly been proven a successful and effective means of creating sites of specific recognition within polymers. After almost three decades of development, we finally have some evidence of large molecule imprinting. In this review, the authors aim to bring the molecular imprinting community up-to-date. We describe here some of the new and innovative work that endeavours to take molecular imprinting away from its chromatographic, synthetic past and make use of this technique in new, exciting and developing fields, such as drug delivery, biotechnology, biosensors, protein/drug recognition and in the development of novel materials. The main discussion analyses a variety of different two-dimensional and three-dimensional approaches recently developed for the recognition of larger molecules or biomolecules, such as proteins, viruses and cells, and how the traditional imprinting methods have been adapted to suit the mass transfer requirements of these biological templates. We also review a relatively new technique that has emerged from the imprinting approach, which aims to develop novel materials from the imprints of biological materials.     

A computational avenue towards understanding and design of zwitterionic anti-biofouling materials

ABSTRACT

This review introduces a computational avenue towards understanding and design of zwitterionic anti-biofouling materials. Biofouling means nonspecific adsorption of proteins, cells, and bacteria on materials and devices. It can sabotage materials functions and bring detrimental effects on the biological systems. Various anti-biofouling materials have been developed and zwitterionic materials emerge as promising candidates recently. The design and understanding of zwitterionic anti-biofouling materials rely on the answers of three fundamental questions: (a) what molecular properties govern the anti-biofouling performance of materials, (b) what is the structure–property-anti-biofouling relationship for materials, and (c) how to identify anti-biofouling materials based on the revealed mechanisms? This paper discussed the efforts of answering the three questions using molecular simulations. We first discuss the simulations that revealed the importance of hydration in the anti-biofouling performance of materials and why this mechanism leads to the discovery of zwitterionic anti-biofouling materials, then the simulations that investigated structure-properties-performance relationships of zwitterionic anti-biofouling materials, and the development of computational approaches that can identify zwitterionic anti-biofouling molecules. Finally, we discuss the opportunities in understanding and design of anti-biofouling biomaterials using computer simulations.     

Investigating the feeding behaviour of brine shrimps

Genomics and proteomics projects have produced a huge amount of raw biological data including DNA and protein sequences. Although these data have been stored in data banks, their evaluation is strictly dependent on bioinformatics tools. These tools have been developed by multidisciplinary experts for fast and robust analysis of biological data. However, there is a gap in the development of educational materials in the bioinformatics area for undergraduate students in bioscience departments. A sample in silico laboratory manual on the prediction of N-glycosylation sites in phosphoethanolamine transferases is presented in this study. The method proposed in this study is simple to apply in laboratory courses and is dependent on the use of internet-based bioinformatics tools such as ProtParam, ClustalW2 and NetNGlyc. In conclusion, this application can stimulate the interest of undergraduate students in bioscience departments and may also contribute to the development of bioinformatics.     

Segmental bone defects: from cellular and molecular pathways to the development of novel biological treatments

Several conditions in clinical orthopaedic practice can lead to the development of a diaphyseal segmental bone defect, which cannot heal without intervention. Segmental bone defects have been traditionally treated with bone grafting and/or distraction osteogenesis, methods that have many advantages, but also major drawbacks, such as limited availability, risk of disease transmission and prolonged treatment. In order to overcome such limitations, biological treatments have been developed based on specific pathways of bone physiology and healing. Bone tissue engineering is a dynamic field of research, combining osteogenic cells, osteoinductive factors, such as bone morphogenetic proteins, and scaffolds with osteoconductive and osteoinductive attributes, to produce constructs that could be used as bone graft substitutes for the treatment of segmental bone defects. Scaffolds are usually made of ceramic or polymeric biomaterials, or combinations of both in composite materials. The purpose of the present review is to discuss in detail the molecular and cellular basis for the development of bone tissue engineering constructs.     

Designing Silk-silk Protein Alloy Materials for Biomedical Applications

Fibrous proteins display different sequences and structures that have been used for various applications in biomedical fields such as biosensors, nanomedicine, tissue regeneration, and drug delivery. Designing materials based on the molecular-scale interactions between these proteins will help generate new multifunctional protein alloy biomaterials with tunable properties. Such alloy material systems also provide advantages in comparison to traditional synthetic polymers due to the materials biodegradability, biocompatibility, and tenability in the body. This article used the protein blends of wild tussah silk (Antheraea pernyi) and domestic mulberry silk (Bombyx mori) as an example to provide useful protocols regarding these topics, including how to predict protein-protein interactions by computational methods, how to produce protein alloy solutions, how to verify alloy systems by thermal analysis, and how to fabricate variable alloy materials including optical materials with diffraction gratings, electric materials with circuits coatings, and pharmaceutical materials for drug release and delivery. These methods can provide important information for designing the next generation multifunctional biomaterials based on different protein alloys.