The physical structure of chromatin has recently emerged as a key contributor to genome regulation and cellular function. Chromatin packing dictates the conformation of the 2-meter-long DNA polymer within the ~10 μm cell nucleus. This conformation can influence gene function by regulating the accessibility of molecular regulators to DNA, altering...
Bio-integrated electronics with advanced monitoring capabilities have garnered considerable interest as a means of expanding patient care beyond traditional hospital and clinic settings. These mechanically soft microsystems, many of which are bioresorbable and wireless, have the potential to replace bulky, rigid, and wired medical technologies by matching or exceeding their...
Nucleic acid therapeutics can be drug molecules with high programmability, minimal off-target effects, and the capability to address “undruggable” targets for diseases. In addition, each time a new drug is needed, one needs to only change the sequence as opposed to finding an entirely new structure. One nucleic acid type...
Wireless power strategies are critical to system level implementation of bio-integrated devices. To achieve mechanically robust, manufacturable systems, batteries are often integrated as an on-board power source to support sensing, wireless communication and signal conditioning. Unfortunately, most sources of battery power use hazardous and environmentally harmful materials, which frustrate incorporation...
Cancer has long been the second-leading cause of death in the United States and represents the leading cause of death in midlife (age 40-60). While the prognosis for many cancers has vastly improved over the last thirty years, many cancers remain elusive due to the late-onset of symptoms, the specific...
Chromatin is the biological material that packages our genetic information. In humans, 2 meters of linear DNA is compacted into an approximately 6 μm nucleus. Our DNA is transcribed into RNA, which is then translated into proteins. Cellular phenotype, the composite of all cellular functions, is defined by the entire...
The current view in neuroscience holds that the brain, together with its sensory and motor structures and the environment, form a closed-loop system – a sensorimotor loop – in which the brain receives information from the environment and converts it into a motor response while simultaneously making predictions about future...
Polymer and polymer/ceramic composites known as bone cements are commonly used in musculoskeletal reconstructive surgeries where bone tissue fixation, reinforcement, or void filling may be needed. Polymethylmethacrylate, PMMA, was the initial (and currently only) FDA-approved bone cement for bone-void filling applications yet faces many inherent material-based challenges that impacts its...
Before initiating a walking movement, the central nervous system forms a motor plan, a set of motor commands predicted to accomplish task-specific goals. To be effective, motor plans must be continually updated to consider an ever-changing external environment. Despite being an inherent part of walking, how the nervous system adapts...
Persons with spinal cord injuries can use state-of-the-art brain-computer interfaces to control robotic arms. Despite this high-tech solution, their movements are slow and imprecise, much like those made by individuals who have lost proprioception, the sense of body position and movement. Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) used to reactivate neural circuits in...
Vimentin intermediate filaments (VIFs) provide mechanical integrity to cells and serve as markers of tissue origin and cell differentiation. Several non-mechanical roles for vimentin have recently been reported, including regulation of key pathways that control cell growth, cell signaling, and cell motility. Here, I present the role of vimentin in...
Myoelectric pattern recognition-based upper limb prostheses measure electromyographic (EMG) signals from the residual limb and learn to identify muscle activity patterns that correspond to intended gestures. To train an accurate pattern recognition controller, it is essential that the training signals typify signals measured in real-world scenarios. When these conditions are...
Bioelectronic devices at the biotic/abiotic interface face a number of key challenges that include device degradation when exposed to biological fluid, their elicited immune response due to mechanical mismatch, and poor signal transduction. Organic electronic materials and their devices, such as organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) address these shortcomings. They can...
Nanocarriers are drug delivery vehicles that have at least one dimension at the nanoscale (10-9 m). Engineering the nanocarrier surface is a strategy for targeting drug delivery to specific cell types to enhance efficacy and minimize side effects. A useful analogy is to consider how the chassis of an automotive...
Nanocarriers as structures with at least one dimension in the nanometer scale are capable of loading small molecule therapeutics that would otherwise have poor bioavailability, non- specific uptake, and off target effects. Polymeric nanocarriers can be modified to tune their chemical and biological behavior to better suit the intended application....
Nanocarriers, structures with at least one dimension on the nanoscale (1-1000 nm), have been engineered for delivery of various cargoes. The shape and flexibility of nanocarriers are important parameters that influence their biological performance. Self-assembling polymeric filamentous nanocarriers, known as filomicelles (FM), are of great interest to nanomedicine due to...
Proprioception, or the sense of one’s body in space, provides critical feedback that the brain usesto generate controlled movements. When proprioceptive feedback is lost, people find it difficult
to perform even basic motor tasks. Despite its importance, proprioceptive coding of single
neurons in the cuneate nucleus (CN), the most peripheral...
Over the past decade, wearables have become pervasive in our lives. Healthcare wearables like a smartwatch continuously monitor personal health status and provide personalized feedback to motivate progress towards medically recommended goals. While present set of on-body electronics empowers users to visualize health status outside of clinic spaces, its traditionally...
Humans have a remarkable ability to create stable walking patterns that can resist and recover from perturbations. Unfortunately, this ability is substantially impaired after a stroke, limiting mobility and contributing to a high fall rate. To facilitate gait training during post-stroke rehabilitation, clinicians often incorporate body-weight support (BWS) systems that...
Like many diseases, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is driven by the activity of inflammatory cells. Using molecular imaging to target and analyze populations of inflammatory cells is one promising strategy to non-invasively assess atherosclerosis progression. However, current molecular imaging contrast agents are not suited for such targeted imaging applications. Nanomaterial-based strategies...
