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Plasmonic nanoparticles are commonly used as optical transducers in sensing applications. The optical signals resulting from the interaction of analytes and plamsonic nanoparticles are influenced by surrounding physical structures where the nanoparticles are located. This paper proposes inverse opal photonic crystal hydrogel as 3D structure to improve Raman signals from plasmonic staining. By hybridization...
The hybridization of plasmonic nanoparticles and inverse opal photonic crystal structures is demonstrated by Z. Mu, X. Zhao, Y. Huang, M. Lu, and Z. Gu on page 6036 through plasmonic staining of protein‐modified hydrogels. The SERS signal from the plasmonic‐stained inverse opal photonic crystal hydrogel is about five times those from nonporous hydrogels, by deliberately selecting excitation wavelengths...
Due to their various potential biomedical applications, hydrogels based on engineered proteins have attracted considerable interest. Benefitting from significant progress in recombinant DNA technology and protein engineering/design techniques, the field of protein hydrogels has made amazing progress. The latest progress of hydrogels constructed from engineered recombinant proteins are presented, mainly...
Multiarm hydrogel microparticles with varying geometry are fabricated to specifically capture cells expressing epithelial cell adhesion molecule. Results show that particle shape influences cell‐capture efficiency due to differences in surface area, hydrodynamic effects, and steric constraints. These findings can lead to improved particle design for cell separation and diagnostic applications.
A biofabrication strategy for creating planar multiscale protein, hydrogel, and cellular patterns, and simultaneously generating microscale topographical features is developed that laterally confines the patterned cells and direct their growth in cell permissive hydrogels.
Using molecular imprinting, a peroxidase‐mimicking DNAzyme has achieved substrate specificity with enhanced activity in a nanoscale gel for three different substrates.
Surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a promising technique for molecular analysis as the molecular fingerprints (Raman spectra) are amplified to detectable levels compared with common spectroscopy. Metal nanostructures localize electromagnetic field on their surfaces, which can lead to dramatic increase of Raman intensity of molecules adsorbed. However, the metal surfaces are prone to contamination,...
Hydrogels have many applications in biomedical surface modification and tissue engineering. However, the structuring of hydrogels after their formation represents still a major challenge, in particular due to their softness. Here, a novel approach is presented that is based on the combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and nanofluidics, also referred to as FluidFM technology. Its applicability...
Geometric and mechanical characterizations of hydrogel materials at the microscale are attracting increasing attention due to their importance in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery applications. Contemporary approaches for measuring the these properties of hydrogel microbeads suffer from low‐throughput, complex system configuration, and measurement inaccuracy. In this work,...
One challenge in biofabrication is to fabricate a matrix that is soft enough to elicit optimal cell behavior while possessing the strength required to withstand the mechanical load that the matrix is subjected to once implanted in the body. Here, melt electrowriting (MEW) is used to direct‐write poly(ε‐caprolactone) fibers “out‐of‐plane” by design. These out‐of‐plane fibers are specifically intended...
Acoustic standing waves offer an excellent opportunity to trap and spatially manipulate colloidal objects. This noncontact technique is used for the in situ formation and patterning in aqueous solution of 1D or 2D arrays of pH‐responsive coacervate microdroplets comprising poly(diallyldimethylammonium) chloride and the dipeptide N‐fluorenyl‐9‐methoxy‐carbonyl‐D‐alanine‐D‐alanine. Decreasing the pH...
Based on biocompatible and stretchable hydrogels, Fei Li, Feng Xu, and co‐workers propose a simple paradigm to prototype stretchable electronics with an embedded 3D helical conductive layout in article number 1801711. The 3D layout promises enhanced stretchability and robustness compared to traditional 1D and 2D designs. The hydrogel electronics can be directly incorporated onto the human body and...
The ever‐growing overlap between stretchable electronic devices and wearable healthcare applications is igniting the discovery of novel biocompatible and skin‐like materials for human‐friendly stretchable electronics fabrication. Amongst all potential candidates, hydrogels with excellent biocompatibility and mechanical features close to human tissues are constituting a promising troop for realizing...
Developmental cell biology requires technologies in which the fate of single cells is followed over extended time periods, to monitor and understand the processes of self‐renewal, differentiation, and reprogramming. A workflow is presented, in which single cells are encapsulated into droplets (Ø: 80 µm, volume: ≈270 pL) and the droplet compartment is later converted to a hydrogel bead. After on‐chip...
Formulation technologies are critical for increasing the efficacy of drug products containing poorly soluble hydrophobic drugs, which compose roughly 70% of small molecules in commercial pipelines. Nanomedicines, such as nanocrystal formulations and amorphous solid suspensions, are effective approaches to increasing solubility. However, existing techniques require additional processing into a final...
Conductive hydrogels are receiving increasing attention for their utility in electronic area applications requiring flexible conductors. Here, it is presented novel conductive hydrogel microfibers with alginate shells and poly (3, 4‐ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (4‐styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) cores fabricated using a multiflow capillary microfluidic spinning approach. Based on multiflow microfluidics,...
Skeletal muscle tissue engineering (SMTE) aims at repairing defective skeletal muscles. Until now, numerous developments are made in SMTE; however, it is still challenging to recapitulate the complexity of muscles with current methods of fabrication. Here, after a brief description of the anatomy of skeletal muscle and a short state‐of‐the‐art on developments made in SMTE with “conventional methods,”...
Molecular imprinting refers to templated polymerization with rationally designed monomers, and this is a general method to prepare stable and cost‐effective ligands. This attractive concept however suffers from low affinity, low specificity, and limited signaling mechanisms for binding. Acrydite‐modified DNA oligonucleotides can be readily copolymerized into acrylic polymers. With molecular recognition...
Structural color hydrogels are promising candidates as scaffold materials for tissue engineering and for matrix cell culture and manipulation, while their super‐elastic features are still lacking due to the irreconcilable interfere of the precursor and the self‐assembly unit. This hinders many of their practical biomedical applications where elasticity is required. Herein, hydrophilic and size‐controllable...
Structural color hydrogels with healable capability are of great significance in many fields, however the controllability of these materials still needs optimizing. Thus, this work presents a healable structural color hydrogel with photocontrolling properties. The component parts of the hydrogel are a graphene oxide (GO) integrated inverse opal hydrogel scaffold and a hydrogel filler with reversible...
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