Lipid-based nanoparticles have emerged as a clinically viable platform technology to deliver nucleic acids for a wide range of healthcare applications. Within this scope, one of the most exciting areas of recent progress and future innovation potential lies in the material science of lipid-based nanoparticles, both to refine existing nanoparticle strategies and to develop new ones. Herein, the latest efforts to develop next-generation lipid-based nanoparticles are covered by taking a nanoarchitectonics perspective and the design, nucleic acid encapsulation methods, scalable production, and application prospects are critically analyzed for three classes of lipid-based nanoparticles: 1) traditional lipid nanoparticles (LNPs); 2) lipoplexes; and 3) bicelles. Particular focus is placed on rationalizing how molecular self-assembly principles enable advanced functionalities along with comparing and contrasting the different nanoarchitectures. The current development status of each class of lipid-based nanoparticle is also evaluated and possible future directions in terms of overcoming clinical translation challenges and realizing new application opportunities are suggested.

Urgent action is needed to build more resilient systems of food production.

Although paperless technologies are becoming ubiquitous, paper and paper‐based materials remain one of the most widely used resources, predicted to exceed an annual total of 460 million metric tons by 2030. Given the environmental challenges, deleterious impact on natural resources, and waste associated with conventional wood‐based paper manufacturing, developing more sustainable strategies to source, produce, and recycle paper from natural materials is essential. Here, the development and production of reusable and recyclable paper are reported. This approach offers a pathway for easily producing natural pollen grains via ecofriendly, economical, scalable, and low‐energy fabrication routes. It is demonstrated that the pollen‐based paper exhibits high‐quality printability, readability, and erasability, enabling its reuse. Based on the pH‐responsive morphological responses of engineered pollen materials, a method for hygro stable printing and on‐demand unprinting is presented. The reusability of the pollen paper renders it more advantageous than conventional single‐print wood‐based paper. This study thus provides possible pathways to utilize non‐allergenic pollen, which is renewable and naturally abundant, as a sustainable source of reusable paper. While this work primarily deals with paper, the methods described here can be extended to produce other products such as cartons and containers for the storage and transport of liquid and solid materials.

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Metrics & MoreArticle Recommendations CONSPECTUS:The rapid growth in the global human population has increased the prevalence of emerging infectious diseases, which poses a major risk to public health. In search of effective clinical solutions, the acquisition of knowledge and understanding of biomolecular processes associated with viral pathogens represents a prerequisite. In this context, biophysical engineering approaches are particularly promising since they can resolve biomolecular interactions systematically by circumventing the complexities associated with experiments involving natural biological systems. The engineering approaches encompass the design and construction of biomimetic platforms that simulate the physiological system. This approach enables us to characterize, measure, and quantitatively analyze biomolecular interactions.In this Account, we summarize biophysical measurements that our group has successfully adopted to develop broad-spectrum antiviral drugs based on the lipid envelope antiviral disruption (LEAD) strategy, targeting the structural integrity of the outer viral membrane to abrogate viral infectivity. We particularly focus on the engineering aspects related to the design and construction of the tethered lipid vesicle platform, which closely mimics the viral membrane. We first outline the development of the LEAD agents screening platform that integrates soft matter design components with biomaterials and surface functionalization strategies to facilitate parallel measurements tracking peptide-induced destabilization of nanoscale, virus-mimicking vesicles with tunable size and composition. Then, we describe how this platform can be effectively employed to gain insights into the membrane curvature dependency of certain peptides. The fundamental knowledge acquired through this systematic process is crucial in the identification and subsequent development of antiviral drug candidates. In particular, we highlight the development of curvature-sensitive α-helical (AH) peptides as a broad-spectrum antiviral agent that has been demonstrated as an effective therapeutic treatment against multiple enveloped viruses. Also, we introduce a tethered cluster of vesicles to mimic clusters of enveloped viruses, exhibiting higher infectivity levels in the biological system. Then, we discuss key considerations, including experimental artifacts, namely dye leakage and imaging-related photobleaching, and corresponding corrective measures to improve the accuracy of quantitative interpretation.With the ongoing development and application of the tethered lipid vesicle platform, there is a compelling opportunity to explore fundamental biointerfacial science and develop a new class of broad-spectrum antiviral agents to prepare for the future membraneenveloped viral pandemics.