Towards an in vivo biologically inspired nanofactory

LeDuc, Philip R.; Wong, Michael S.; Ferreira, Placid M.; Groff, Richard E.; Haslinger, Kiryn; Koonce, Michael P.; Lee, Woo Y.; Love, J. Christopher; McCammon, J. Andrew; Monteiro‐Riviere, Nancy A.; Rotello, Vincent M.; Rubloff, Gary W.; Westervelt, Robert; Yoda, Minami

doi:10.1038/nnano.2006.180

Cited by 163 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Passively responsive systems capitalizing on anisotropy at both material and structure length scales are finding use in areas such as architecture, where wooden elements are used to open and close in response to humidity fluctuations to achieve building-scale homeostasis 94 . At smaller scales, active biomimetic materials could be used in artificial cells for in vivo travel to targeted sites for drug administration in a non-invasive manner 95 .…”

Section: Future Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of mechanics in biological and bio-inspired systems

et al. 2015

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Natural systems frequently exploit intricate multiscale and multiphasic structures to achieve functionalities beyond those of man-made systems. Although understanding the chemical make-up of these systems is essential, the passive and active mechanics within biological systems are crucial when considering the many natural systems that achieve advanced properties, such as high strength-to-weight ratios and stimuli-responsive adaptability. Discovering how and why biological systems attain these desirable mechanical functionalities often reveals principles that inform new synthetic designs based on biological systems. Such approaches have traditionally found success in medical applications, and are now informing breakthroughs in diverse frontiers of science and engineering. N atural biological systems are constrained by a limited number of chemical building blocks, yet through practical material organization and mechanics 1 , fulfil the functional needs of diverse organisms by methods that often exceed what is currently achievable using man-made approaches 2 . Synthetic systems are often limited by trade-offs where improving one property comes at the expense of another, as observed when utilizing ceramics in place of metals where a higher elastic modulus is accompanied by lower fracture toughness. However, many natural systems and materials have evolved 3 solutions that result in a number of improved properties simultaneously (for example, high modulus with high fracture toughness), and often produce systems that fulfil multiple functions concurrently. For example, stomatopod dactyl clubs 4 tolerate exceptional amounts of damage through multiphasic material interfaces, and efficient blood-clotting mechanisms are achieved through platelet shape adaptability 5 . These intricate mechanics phenomena, relating material organization and adaptability, are implemented in a structurally minimalistic fashion that is difficult to emulate through artificial manufacturing approaches 6 . Such mechanical functions (that is, mechanofunctionality) of biological systems are not isolated cases-multiscale structural organization also contributes to the hardness of nacre 7 and toughness of toucan beaks 8 , while shape changing commonly drives behaviour in many sea creatures 9 and plants 10 . As such recurrent, mechanically based organizational features throughout biology are discovered and analysed, they provide insight for building exceptional mechanofunctionalities into synthetic, bio-inspired technologies.The survival of organisms is often heightened by structures and materials with favourable properties (for example, load-bearing capacity) or mechanofunctionalities that are passive

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Section: Future Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of mechanics in biological and bio-inspired systems

et al. 2015

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“…LeDuc et al [33] put forward a lucid vision of such an application, introducingthe concept of a "nanofactory" to be introduced in the body to convert pre-existing materials into therapeutic compounds, or transform molecules that a patient is unable to process, due to some medical condition, into other compounds that the body can process.…”

Section: A Turing Test For Communicating Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Cells as Computation to Cells as Apps

Bracciali

Cataldo

Damiano

et al. 2016

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

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Abstract. We reflect on the computational aspects that are embedded in life at the molecular and cellular level, where life machinery can be understood as a massively distributed system whose macroscopic behaviour is an emerging property of the interaction of its components. Such a relatively new perspective, clearly pursued by systems biology, is contributing to the view that biology is, in several respects, a quantitative science. The recent developments in biotechnology and synthetic biology, noticeably, are pushing the computational interpretation of biology even further, envisaging the possibility of a programmable biology. Several in-silico, in-vitro and in-vivo results make such a possibility a very concrete one. The long-term implications of such an "extended" idea of programmable living hardware, as well as the applications that we intend to develop on those "computers", pose fundamental questions.

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“…54 Nanofactories provide novel approaches for in situ drug synthesis and delivery by producing desired materials near target sites. 54 Recently, nanofactories were constructed using polymersomes that allowed the inflow of excess phenylalanine within the nanofactories. The encapsulated phenylalanine ammonia-lyase was able to decrease the level of phenylalanine in vivo.…”

Section: The Shell: Applications Of Artificial Membranes In Biologicamentioning

confidence: 99%

The engineering of artificial cellular nanosystems using synthetic biology approaches

Tan

2014

WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol

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Artificial cellular systems are minimal systems that mimic certain properties of natural cells, including signaling pathways, membranes, and metabolic pathways. These artificial cells (or protocells) can be constructed following a synthetic biology approach by assembling biomembranes, synthetic gene circuits, and cell-free expression systems. As artificial cells are built from bottom-up using minimal and a defined number of components, they are more amenable to predictive mathematical modeling and engineered controls when compared with natural cells. Indeed, artificial cells have been implemented as drug delivery machineries and in situ protein expression systems. Furthermore, artificial cells have been used as biomimetic systems to unveil new insights into functions of natural cells, which are otherwise difficult to investigate owing to their inherent complexity. It is our vision that the development of artificial cells would bring forth parallel advancements in synthetic biology, cell-free systems, and in vitro systems biology. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Conflict of interests: The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

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Towards an in vivo biologically inspired nanofactory

Cited by 163 publications

References 36 publications

The role of mechanics in biological and bio-inspired systems

The role of mechanics in biological and bio-inspired systems

From Cells as Computation to Cells as Apps

The engineering of artificial cellular nanosystems using synthetic biology approaches

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