Empowering engineered muscle in biohybrid pump by extending connexin 43 duration with reduced graphene oxides

Biofabrication of Living Actuators

The impact of tissue engineering has extended beyond a traditional focus in medicine to the rapidly growing realm of biohybrid robotics. Leveraging living actuators as functional components in machines has been a central focus of this field, generating a range of compelling demonstrations of robots capable of muscle-powered swimming, walking, pumping, gripping, and even computation. In this review, we highlight key advances in fabricating tissue-scale cardiac and skeletal muscle actuators for a range of functional applications. We discuss areas for future growth including scalable manufacturing, integrated feedback control, and predictive modeling and also propose methods for ensuring inclusive and bioethics-focused pedagogy in this emerging discipline. We hope this review motivates the next generation of biomedical engineers to advance rational design and practical use of living machines for applications ranging from telesurgery to manufacturing to on- and off-world exploration.

Highly Aligned Ternary Nanofiber Matrices Loaded with MXene Expedite Regeneration of Volumetric Muscle Loss

Current therapeutic approaches for volumetric muscle loss (VML) face challenges due to limited graft availability and insufficient bioactivities. To overcome these limitations, tissue-engineered scaffolds have emerged as a promising alternative. In this study, we developed aligned ternary nanofibrous matrices comprised of poly(lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) integrated with collagen and Ti3C2Tx MXene nanoparticles (NPs) (PCM matrices), and explored their myogenic potential for skeletal muscle tissue regeneration. The PCM matrices demonstrated favorable physicochemical properties, including structural uniformity, alignment, microporosity, and hydrophilicity. In vitro assays revealed that the PCM matrices promoted cellular behaviors and myogenic differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts. Moreover, in vivo experiments demonstrated enhanced muscle remodeling and recovery in mice treated with PCM matrices following VML injury. Mechanistic insights from next-generation sequencing revealed that MXene NPs facilitated protein and ion availability within PCM matrices, leading to elevated intracellular Ca2+ levels in myoblasts through the activation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1), ultimately promoting myogenic differentiation via the mTOR-AKT pathway. Additionally, upregulated iNOS and increased NO- contributed to myoblast proliferation and fiber fusion, thereby facilitating overall myoblast maturation. These findings underscore the potential of MXene NPs loaded within highly aligned matrices as therapeutic agents to promote skeletal muscle tissue recovery.

Nanomaterial-based biohybrid hydrogel in bioelectronics

Despite the broadly applicable potential in the bioelectronics, organic/inorganic material-based bioelectronics have some limitations such as hard stiffness and low biocompatibility. To overcome these limitations, hydrogels capable of bridging the interface and connecting biological materials and electronics have been investigated for development of hydrogel bioelectronics. Although hydrogel bioelectronics have shown unique properties including flexibility and biocompatibility, there are still limitations in developing novel hydrogel bioelectronics using only hydrogels such as their low electrical conductivity and structural stability. As an alternative solution to address these issues, studies on the development of biohybrid hydrogels that incorporating nanomaterials into the hydrogels have been conducted for bioelectronic applications. Nanomaterials complement the shortcomings of hydrogels for bioelectronic applications, and provide new functionality in biohybrid hydrogel bioelectronics. In this review, we provide the recent studies on biohybrid hydrogels and their bioelectronic applications. Firstly, representative nanomaterials and hydrogels constituting biohybrid hydrogels are provided, and next, applications of biohybrid hydrogels in bioelectronics categorized in flexible/wearable bioelectronic devices, tissue engineering, and biorobotics are discussed with recent studies. In conclusion, we strongly believe that this review provides the latest knowledge and strategies on hydrogel bioelectronics through the combination of nanomaterials and hydrogels, and direction of future hydrogel bioelectronics.

Biohybrid robots: recent progress, challenges, and perspectives

The past ten years have seen the rapid expansion of the field of biohybrid robotics. By combining engineered, synthetic components with living biological materials, new robotics solutions have been developed that harness the adaptability of living muscles, the sensitivity of living sensory cells, and even the computational abilities of living neurons. Biohybrid robotics has taken the popular and scientific media by storm with advances in the field, moving biohybrid robotics out of science fiction and into real science and engineering. So how did we get here, and where should the field of biohybrid robotics go next? In this perspective, we first provide the historical context of crucial subareas of biohybrid robotics by reviewing the past 10+ years of advances in microorganism-bots and sperm-bots, cyborgs, and tissue-based robots. We then present critical challenges facing the field and provide our perspectives on the vital future steps toward creating autonomous living machines.