Nanoparticle tension probes patterned at the nanoscale: impact of integrin clustering on force transmission

Herein we aimed to understand how nanoscale clustering of RGD ligands alters the mechano-regulation of their integrin receptors. We combined molecular tension fluorescence microscopy with block copolymer micelle nanolithography to fabricate substrates with arrays of precisely spaced probes that can generate a 10-fold fluorescence response to pN-forces. We found that the mechanism of sensing ligand spacing is force-mediated. This strategy is broadly applicable to investigating receptor clustering and its role in mechanotransduction pathways

Engineering Phage Host-Range and Suppressing Bacterial Resistance through Phage Tail Fiber Mutagenesis

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. Bacteriophage libraries containing millions of variants of phage tail fiber motifs on a common structural scaffold give rise to infectious phages with expanded or altered host ranges, which may be useful for phage therapy efforts

Hydrogel-based biocontainment of bacteria for continuous sensing and computation

Genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs) can enable a wide range of important applications including environmental sensing and responsive engineered living materials. However, containment of GMMs to prevent environmental escape and satisfy regulatory requirements is a bottleneck for real-world use. While current biochemical strategies restrict unwanted growth of GMMs in the environment, there is a need for deployable physical containment technologies to achieve redundant, multi-layered and robust containment. We developed a hydrogel-based encapsulation system that incorporates a biocompatible multilayer tough shell and an alginate-based core. This deployable physical containment strategy (DEPCOS) allows no detectable GMM escape, bacteria to be protected against environmental insults including antibiotics and low pH, controllable lifespan and easy retrieval of genomically recoded bacteria. To highlight the versatility of DEPCOS, we demonstrated that robustly encapsulated cells can execute useful functions, including performing cell-cell communication with other encapsulated bacteria and sensing heavy metals in water samples from the Charles River