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Journal articleSun M, Gao AX, Ye B, et al., 2026,
Advances in engineering and applications of synthetic phase-separated membraneless organelles in biotechnology
, Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, Vol: 13, Pages: 37-49, ISSN: 2405-805XMembraneless organelles (MLOs) formed through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) constitute crucial dynamic microenvironments within cells, capable of selectively concentrating specific molecules and regulating biochemical reactions. Based on the working mechanisms of natural MLOs, researchers have designed and constructed various synthetic MLOs. These MLOs have been applied in regulating enzyme activity, optimizing metabolic pathways, regulating gene expression, producing recombinant proteins, and developing functional biomaterials. Here, we systematically summarized the design strategies, characterization techniques, and client protein recruitment methods for synthetic MLOs, and categorically reviewed their application progress in the biotechnology field. We also discussed current challenges faced in the practical applications of synthetic MLOs and future research directions. This review aims to provide theoretical guidance and practical reference for the design and application of LLPS-driven synthetic MLOs, thereby promoting their innovative development in synthetic biology and biotechnology.
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Journal articleChen SY, Patranabish S, Weiland K, et al., 2026,
Scalable structural supercapacitors with graphene-modified high-surface-area electrodes
, Composites Science and Technology, Vol: 279, ISSN: 0266-3538Electrification, including emerging technologies such as structural supercapacitors, is critical in realizing carbon-neutral transportation. A fundamental challenge is the trade-off between mechanical properties and energy storage capabilities. We report the fabrication of structural supercapacitors with a novel fibre-fibre interface to improve the interlaminar strength and encapsulation while considering the effect of structural resin on energy storage performance. The synthesized graphene nanoplatelets-modified electrodes attain a high specific surface area of ∼231 m<sup>2</sup> g<sup>−1</sup> - outperforming comparable carbon-based electrodes. We learned that the use of a gel-polymer electrolyte (GPE) separator containing 60 wt% Li-salt eliminates the requirement of electrolyte infusion and showed the highest values for conductivity for the cell produced using GPE. The implementation of glass fabrics (GFs) into the GPE improved the flexural modulus by ∼22%, while retaining the mechanical strength of the cells. The multifunctional performance of the produced SSCs were on par or even outperformed the performances of SSCs reported in literature. A proof-of-concept prototype demonstrates that gel-polymer electrolyte cells can retain charges for longer than those with a glass fibre separator. Cumulatively, these offer the possibility of conventional composite manufacturing techniques to scale-up and eliminate delamination issues arising from different thermal expansion coefficients which also addresses the balance between mechanical stability and electrochemical performance. Our findings support the advancement of durable, lightweight energy storage and delivery systems for sustainable transportation, with potential applications in robotics and wearable technologies.
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Journal articleJiang Q, Normand C, Beauchamp F, et al., 2026,
Structural composite battery: Reinforced carbon fibre electrodes within a porous polyethersulfone matrix
, Composites Science and Technology, Vol: 278, ISSN: 0266-3538A method to produce multifunctional structural battery composites comprising carbon fibre reinforced anodes and cathodes, and electrolyte filled bicontinuous polymer matrix is disclosed. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and lithium titanate (LTO) were deposited onto carbon fibres by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) to produce multifunctional cathodes and anodes, respectively. EPD allowed for an even coating of individual carbon fibres depositing 30 wt% of active materials with respect to carbon fibre current collectors. Carbon fibre reinforced cathode (LFP@CF), separator and anode (LTO@CF) were stacked and impregnated using polyethersulfone (PES) in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solution; the PES was subsequently precipitated by non-solvent induced phase separation forming a porous high-performance polymer matrix within the stack. The porous matrix binds the carbon fibres and separator while providing sufficient openness for the electrochemical interface. The LFP@CF | separator | LTO@CF/PES assembly had an average Young's modulus of 27 ± 10 GPa and tensile strength of 282 ± 65 MPa. Structural battery composites possessed an energy density of 63 Wh/kg<inf>LFP</inf> or 2 Wh/kg<inf>battery</inf> at charge rate of 0.1C and were able to be cyclically dis/charged for more than 400 h.
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Journal articleYousefi N, Tao H, Anthony DB, et al., 2026,
Scale matters: a perspective on structural hierarchical carbon fibre composites incorporating carbon nanotubes
, Composites Science and Technology, Vol: 277, ISSN: 0266-3538Composites have long played a vital role in material science due to their lightweight, stiff, strong, and durable construction. Composites consist of at least two complementary materials, typically comprising reinforcing elements, prominently carbon or glass fibres, held in place by a surrounding polymer matrix. Conventional fibre composites already display a structural hierarchy from fibres within tows, to plies, to laminates forming large-scale structures. The term “hierarchical composites” specifically refers to materials that integrate reinforcements spanning additional length scales, down to the molecular range, most notably nanoscale reinforcements that complement microscale fibres. Natural structural materials rely extensively on hierarchical motifs to maximise performance, though using constituents limited by abundance and ambient aqueous processing. Technical hierarchical composites are broadly inspired by natural multiscale systems, sometimes implementing specific mechanisms from nature in new material classes. In hierarchical composites, the largest reinforcement, fibres, dominate in-plane mechanical properties. In contrast, nanoscale reinforcements may address matrix-dominated responses by, for example, improving shear properties that control stress transfer and kink band initiation, introducing additional toughening mechanisms to limit debonding or delamination, and providing direct reinforcement, particularly through-thickness. Nanomaterials can provide other benefits, such as improved fatigue life, acoustic damping, and solvent/fire resistance. The addition of nanomaterials may also imbue composites with multifunctionality, obviating other constituents or components and reducing system weight. We critically discuss the progress in developing hierarchical fibre reinforced carbon nanotube composites over the past decade and provide insight into manufacturing and their structural and functional performance.
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Journal articleChen Y-F, Lin K-Y, Huang C-Y, et al., 2026,
Subcellular calcium dynamics and organelle perturbations in resistosome-mediated cell death.
, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, Vol: 123Plant nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat-containing (NLR) proteins act as intracellular immune receptors that assemble into resistosomes to execute immune responses. However, the subcellular processes during cell death following resistosome activation remain unclear. Here, we visualized the changes in calcium signaling and organelle behavior after activation of the NRC4 (NLR required for cell death 4) resistosome. We found that NRC4 membrane enrichment coincided with calcium influx. This is followed by sequential mitochondria and plastid disruption, endoplasmic reticulum fragmentation, and cytoskeleton depolymerization. Subsequent loss of plasma membrane integrity, nuclear shrinkage, and vacuolar collapse mark the terminal stage of cell death. Our findings reveal a spatiotemporally resolved cascade of subcellular events downstream of resistosome activation, providing mechanistic insight into the execution phase of plant immune cell death.
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Journal articleSilm M, Jiang Q, Kisand A, et al., 2026,
Transforming textile waste into materials using fungi
, Resources Conservation and Recycling, Vol: 228, ISSN: 0921-3449Textile waste from ‘fast fashion’ has considerable environmental impact and is an EU priority area. Colonising textiles with fungi provides a unique solution, with options to bond them together to create composite materials, fruit them to provide mushrooms (source of chitin-glucan complex), or both. We produced mycelium-textile composites in analogy to traditional prepreg-based composite manufacturing, consolidating multiple textile stacks colonised with Ganoderma lucidum into a single material of customisable thickness and free-form geometry. An oxygen gradient existed through the cross-section of textile stacks, resulting in more growth on surface than core plies. Consolidated composites comprising only surface layers achieved tensile strengths up to ∼14 MPa. Their flexural and shear strengths (7 MPa and 0.5 MPa, respectively) indicated suitability for semi-structural construction applications. Waste textile substrate could also be fruited (5.7% w/w yield). These advances expand the stalled application of mycelium composites and provide a nature-based solution to textile upcycling.
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Journal articleNg SH-X, Tiew PY, Chotirmall SH, et al., 2026,
Two distinct healthcare utilisation trajectories prior to a COPD diagnosis in a multi-ethnic Asian population: a comparison of transient and chronic users.
, BMJ Open Respir Res, Vol: 13INTRODUCTION: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) imposes substantial clinical and economic burdens. Early detection can allow for monitoring and timely treatment to slow its progression. Tracking of patient trajectories prior to their diagnosis can inform the timing and targeting of interventions. We aimed to identify pre-diagnosis healthcare utilisation patterns in a COPD cohort and profile the associated subgroups. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with a new inpatient or specialist outpatient clinic (SOC) diagnosis of COPD from 2018 to 2019 in a regional health system in Singapore. Their healthcare utilisation, expenditure and diagnoses from the 3 years prior to diagnosis were extracted. Patients were classified into subgroups with different expenditure and utilisation patterns using Bayesian mixture modelling and compared against a propensity score-matched non-respiratory control group. RESULTS: 1171 patients with COPD were matched to a control and classified as either chronic (n=688) or transient healthcare users (n=483) prior to a first COPD diagnosis. Chronic users had increasing utilisation over time across all settings, recording multiple SOC visits (median, 25th-75th percentile: 10, 5-20). Transient users had low utilisation throughout, reporting fewer SOC visits than controls (transient: 0, 0-1, control: 2, 0-9). The prevalence of hypertension or hyperlipidaemia was >50% in chronic users, >30% in controls and <30% in transient users. CONCLUSION: Early detection strategies should focus on case-finding among patients with known risk factors in SOCs for referral to respiratory care and outreach to socially disadvantaged communities to facilitate timely access to healthcare.
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Journal articleCohen LD, Moratto E, Stanley CE, 2026,
20 years of microfluidic technology for advancing plant sciences.
, Lab Chip, Vol: 26, Pages: 1273-1298Understanding how plants respond to dynamic and spatially variable stimuli is a key goal in plant sciences. Traditional imaging methods often involve a trade-off between environmental control and spatial resolution, limiting their ability to capture real-time responses in high resolution. Microfluidic technology overcomes these limitations by facilitating precise control of environmental conditions and high-resolution live imaging. In the past two decades, microfluidic technology has increasingly been applied in plant sciences research. This review summarises current applications of microfluidic technology in plant sciences, including studies of root-rhizosphere interactions, tip-growing plant cells, plant protoplasts, and plant phenotyping. Emerging trends are explored, and key research gaps are highlighted.
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Journal articleButler L, Awan AR, Ellis T, et al., 2026,
Engineering non-ribosomal peptide synthesis: tuning the antibiotics engine of the microbial world.
, Crit Rev Biotechnol, Pages: 1-21Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthetases produce chemically diverse peptides in nature, many of which have antimicrobial properties, providing an opportunity to use synthetic biology to fine tune them for pharmaceutical applications. Major challenges remain with total and semi-synthesis of these complex peptides with specific bioengineering methodologies being developed to increase low yields and enhance bioactivity. Here we review major advances in engineering non-ribosomal peptides with a focus on improvements made to achieve better yield and bioactivity. This can be achieved through: engineering precursor metabolites, altering metabolic flux, introducing strong promoters and regulators, and redirecting metabolism to biosynthetic gene clusters which can then be expressed natively or heterologously. We also review glycopeptide antibiotics as a promising opportunity for engineering through synthetic biology for the biosynthesis of novel non-ribosomal peptides.
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Journal articleSun T, Sun M-L, Lin L, et al., 2026,
Combining multiplex metabolic engineering with adaptive evolution strategies for high-level succinic acid production in Yarrowia lipolytica
, Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, Vol: 11, Pages: 48-58, ISSN: 2405-805XSuccinic acid, an essential platform chemical with extensive utility in biodegradable materials, pharmaceuticals, and the food industry, faces challenges of high energy consumption and environmental pollution in traditional chemical synthesis. Here, we employed multiplex metabolic engineering and adaptive laboratory evolution to enhance succinic acid biosynthesis in Yarrowia lipolytica. By attenuating succinate dehydrogenase (Sdh) activity, mitigating by-product accumulation, and enhancing the succinate synthesis pathway, engineered strains showed efficient succinic acid production from glycerol. The titer reached 130.99 g/L under unregulated pH conditions, translating to a yield of 0.35 g/g and a productivity of 0.70 g/(L·h). Subsequently, transporter engineering and adaptive evolution strategies were applied to enhance glucose utilization for succinic acid synthesis, yielding an evolved strain that eliminated the growth lag phase and produced 106.68 g/L succinic acid from glucose, which translated to a yield of 0.32 g/g and a productivity of 0.64 g/(L·h). Additionally, transcriptomic analysis and inverse metabolic engineering revealed that 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (4-Hppd) in the tyrosine degradation pathway partially restored the growth of Sdh-deficient strains on glucose, offering new insights for subsequent succinic acid biomanufacturing using Y. lipolytica.
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