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Biology Open Aug 2023Currently, in the field of interdisciplinary work in biology, there has been a significant push by the soft robotic community to understand the motion and... (Review)
Review
Currently, in the field of interdisciplinary work in biology, there has been a significant push by the soft robotic community to understand the motion and maneuverability of hydrostats. This Review seeks to expand the muscular hydrostat hypothesis toward new structures, including plants, and introduce innovative techniques to the hydrostat community on new modeling, simulating, mimicking, and observing hydrostat motion methods. These methods range from ideas of kirigami, origami, and knitting for mimic creation to utilizing reinforcement learning for control of bio-inspired soft robotic systems. It is now being understood through modeling that different mechanisms can inhibit traditional hydrostat motion, such as skin, nostrils, or sheathed layered muscle walls. The impact of this Review will highlight these mechanisms, including asymmetries, and discuss the critical next steps toward understanding their motion and how species with hydrostat structures control such complex motions, highlighting work from January 2022 to December 2022.
Topics: Muscles; Robotics
PubMed: 37566395
DOI: 10.1242/bio.059834 -
Proceedings of the Japan Academy.... 2024Magnetron production and use far exceed that of other microwave tubes due to their high operational efficiency, power efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in production.... (Review)
Review
Magnetron production and use far exceed that of other microwave tubes due to their high operational efficiency, power efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in production. The magnetron was named by A. W. Hull; however, the device invented by Hull differs from the magnetron utilized as a microwave tube. The magnetron widely used today is based on the split-anode magnetron invented by K. Okabe. This overview introduces two papers published by Okabe in the Proceedings of the Imperial Academy and discusses the events that led to the discovery of the split-anode magnetron. In addition, the operation mechanisms of magnetrons are explained.
Topics: Electrodes; Inventions; History, 20th Century; Microwaves; Magnetics
PubMed: 38735752
DOI: 10.2183/pjab.100.018 -
Chemical Reviews Nov 2023With the advancements in materials science and micro/nanoengineering, the field of wearable electronics has experienced a rapid growth and significantly impacted and... (Review)
Review
With the advancements in materials science and micro/nanoengineering, the field of wearable electronics has experienced a rapid growth and significantly impacted and transformed various aspects of daily human life. These devices enable individuals to conveniently access health assessments without visiting hospitals and provide continuous, detailed monitoring to create comprehensive health data sets for physicians to analyze and diagnose. Nonetheless, several challenges continue to hinder the practical application of wearable electronics, such as skin compliance, biocompatibility, stability, and power supply. In this review, we address the power supply issue and examine recent innovative self-powered technologies for wearable electronics. Specifically, we explore self-powered sensors and self-powered systems, the two primary strategies employed in this field. The former emphasizes the integration of nanogenerator devices as sensing units, thereby reducing overall system power consumption, while the latter focuses on utilizing nanogenerator devices as power sources to drive the entire sensing system. Finally, we present the future challenges and perspectives for self-powered wearable electronics.
Topics: Humans; Wearable Electronic Devices; Electric Power Supplies; Electronics; Technology
PubMed: 37871288
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00305 -
Current Opinion in Biotechnology Oct 2023The combination of sensors and microfluidics has become a promising approach for detecting a wide variety of targets relevant in biotechnology. Thanks to recent advances... (Review)
Review
The combination of sensors and microfluidics has become a promising approach for detecting a wide variety of targets relevant in biotechnology. Thanks to recent advances in the manufacturing of microfluidic systems, microfluidics can be manufactured faster, cheaper, and more accurately than ever before. These advances make microfluidic systems very appealing as a basis for constructing sensor systems, and microfluidic devices have been adapted to house (bio)sensors for various applications (e.g. protein biomarker detection, cell culture oxygen control, and pathogen detection). This review article highlights several successfully integrated microfluidic sensor systems, with a focus on work that has been published within the last two years. Different sensor integration methods are discussed, and the latest trends in wearable- and smartphone-based sensors are described.
Topics: Microfluidics; Biosensing Techniques; Biotechnology; Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; Cell Culture Techniques
PubMed: 37531802
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2023.102978 -
Bio Systems Jan 2024Advancements in mycelium technology, stemming from fungal electronics and the development of living mycelium composites and skins, have opened new avenues in the fusion...
Advancements in mycelium technology, stemming from fungal electronics and the development of living mycelium composites and skins, have opened new avenues in the fusion of biological and artificial systems. This paper explores an experimental endeavour that successfully incorporates living, self-regenerating, and reactive Ganoderma sessile mycelium into a model cyborg figure, creating a bio-cybernetic entity. The mycelium, cultivated using established techniques, was homogeneously grown on the cyborg model's surface, demonstrating robust reactivity to various stimuli such as light exposure and touch. This innovative merger points towards the future of sustainable biomaterials and the potential integration of these materials into new and existing technologies.
Topics: Robotics; Biocompatible Materials; Electronics
PubMed: 38128872
DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.105106 -
Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces... Jul 2023The rheological characteristics of pre-spun native silk protein, which is stored as a viscous pulp inside the silk gland, are the key factors that determine the...
The rheological characteristics of pre-spun native silk protein, which is stored as a viscous pulp inside the silk gland, are the key factors that determine the mechanical performance of the endpoint material: the spun silk fibers. In silkworms and arthropods, microcompartmentalization was shown to play an important regulatory role in storing and stabilizing the aggregation-prone silk and in initiating the fibrillar self-assembly process. However, our current understanding of the mechanism of stabilization of the highly unstable protein pulp in its soluble state inside the microcompartments and of the conditions required for initiating the structural transition in protein inside the microcompartments remains limited. Here, we exploited the power of droplet microfluidics to mimic the silk protein's microcompartmentalization event; we introduced changes in the chemical environment and analyzed the storage-to-spinning transition as well as the accompanying structural changes in silk fibroin protein, from its native fold into an aggregative β-sheet-rich structure. Through a combination of experimental and computational simulations, we established the conditions under which the structural transition in microcompartmentalized silk protein is initiated, which, in turn, is reflected in changes in the silk-rich fluid behavior. Overall, our study sheds light on the role of the independent parameters of a dynamically changing chemical environment, changes in fluid viscosity, and the shear forces that act to balance silk protein self-assembly, and thus, facilitate new exploratory avenues in the field of biomaterials.
Topics: Animals; Silk; Bombyx; Fibroins; Rheology; Microfluidics
PubMed: 37343062
DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00354 -
Current Opinion in Cell Biology Jun 2024Intracellular organization is a highly regulated homeostatic state maintained to ensure eukaryotic cells' correct and efficient functioning. Thanks to decades of... (Review)
Review
Intracellular organization is a highly regulated homeostatic state maintained to ensure eukaryotic cells' correct and efficient functioning. Thanks to decades of research, vast knowledge of the proteins involved in intracellular transport and organization has been acquired. However, how these influence and potentially regulate the intracellular mechanical properties of the cell is largely unknown. There is a deep knowledge gap between the understanding of cortical mechanics, which is accessible by a series of experimental tools, and the intracellular situation that has been largely neglected due to the difficulty of performing intracellular mechanics measurements. Recently, tools required for such quantitative and localized analysis of intracellular mechanics have been introduced. Here, we review how these approaches and the resulting viscoelastic models lead the way to a full mechanical description of the cytoplasm, which is instrumental for a quantitative characterization of the intracellular life of cells.
Topics: Optical Tweezers; Humans; Animals; Cytoplasm; Rheology; Biomechanical Phenomena
PubMed: 38824902
DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2024.102374 -
Journal of Biomedical Optics Sep 2023Hyperspectral microscopy grants the ability to characterize unique properties of tissues based on their spectral fingerprint. The ability to label and measure multiple...
SIGNIFICANCE
Hyperspectral microscopy grants the ability to characterize unique properties of tissues based on their spectral fingerprint. The ability to label and measure multiple molecular probes simultaneously provides pathologists and oncologists with a powerful tool to enhance accurate diagnostic and prognostic decisions. As the pathological workload grows, having an objective tool that provides companion diagnostics is of immense importance. Therefore, fast whole-slide spectral imaging systems are of immense importance for automated cancer prognostics that meet current and future needs.
AIM
We aim to develop a fast and accurate hyperspectral microscopy system that can be easily integrated with existing microscopes and provide flexibility for optimizing measurement time versus spectral resolution.
APPROACH
The method employs compressive sensing (CS) and a spectrally encoded illumination device integrated into the illumination path of a standard microscope. The spectral encoding is obtained using a compact liquid crystal cell that is operated in a fast mode. It provides time-efficient measurements of the spectral information, is modular and versatile, and can also be used for other applications that require rapid acquisition of hyperspectral images.
RESULTS
We demonstrated the acquisition of breast cancer biopsies hyperspectral data of the whole camera area within . This means that a typical biopsy can be measured in . The hyperspectral images with 250 spectral bands are reconstructed from 47 spectrally encoded images in the spectral range of 450 to 700 nm.
CONCLUSIONS
CS hyperspectral microscopy was successfully demonstrated on a common lab microscope for measuring biopsies stained with the most common stains, such as hematoxylin and eosin. The high spectral resolution demonstrated here in a rather short time indicates the ability to use it further for coping with the highly demanding needs of pathological diagnostics, both for cancer diagnostics and prognostics.
Topics: Microscopy; Physical Phenomena; Biopsy; Coloring Agents; Data Compression; Neoplasms
PubMed: 37692564
DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.28.9.096502 -
PloS One 2024Manifold visualisation techniques are commonly used to visualise high-dimensional datasets in physical sciences. In this paper, we apply a recently introduced manifold...
Manifold visualisation techniques are commonly used to visualise high-dimensional datasets in physical sciences. In this paper, we apply a recently introduced manifold visualisation method, slisemap, on datasets from physics and chemistry. slisemap combines manifold visualisation with explainable artificial intelligence. Explainable artificial intelligence investigates the decision processes of black box machine learning models and complex simulators. With slisemap, we find an embedding such that data items with similar local explanations are grouped together. Hence, slisemap gives us an overview of the different behaviours of a black box model, where the patterns in the embedding reflect a target property. In this paper, we show how slisemap can be used and evaluated on physical data and that it is helpful in finding meaningful information on classification and regression models trained on these datasets.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Physical Examination; Physics; Relaxation Therapy
PubMed: 38271355
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297714 -
Current Opinion in Structural Biology Jun 2024The complexity of biological systems and processes, spanning molecular to macroscopic scales, necessitates the use of multiscale simulations to get a comprehensive... (Review)
Review
The complexity of biological systems and processes, spanning molecular to macroscopic scales, necessitates the use of multiscale simulations to get a comprehensive understanding. Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are crucial for capturing processes beyond the reach of classical MD simulations. The advent of exascale computing offers unprecedented opportunities for scientific exploration, not least within life sciences, where simulations are essential to unravel intricate molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes. However, leveraging the immense computational power of exascale computing requires innovative algorithms and software designs. In this context, we discuss the current status and future prospects of multiscale biomolecular simulations on exascale supercomputers with a focus on QM/MM MD. We highlight our own efforts in developing a versatile and high-performance multiscale simulation framework with the aim of efficient utilization of state-of-the-art supercomputers. We showcase its application in uncovering complex biological mechanisms and its potential for leveraging exascale computing.
Topics: Molecular Dynamics Simulation; Quantum Theory; Software; Algorithms
PubMed: 38688076
DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2024.102821