Advancing Organoid Research Using Bionanotechnology Approaches
Stem cells are characterized by a unique ability to self-renew and differentiate and have revolutionized modern biological sciences and medical researches with unique approaches for understanding developmental processes and disease modeling. With recent advances in 3D cell culture technology, stem cells are allowed to reside in culture environments emancipating their intrinsic self-organizing properties and form into “organoids” resembling structural as well as functional characteristics of organs [Figure 1]. To advance organoid development, diverse advanced material and engineering techniques have been incorporated into conventional organoid culture methods [Figure 1]. Despite the wide use of organoids and the recent surge of research activity in this field, a comprehensive review covering engineering extracellular matrices to support organoid culture for developmental studies, 3D organ-level biology, and bioengineering-based disease modeling is lacking.
Cell therapy holds great potential for treating various incurable diseases and disorders, including spinal cord injury (SCI). However, cell death and a lack of control of cell fate limit the clinical application of cell therapies, especially stem cell therapies. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop novel methods to promote cell survival and control of cell fate after transplantation of cells.
Viral diseases have received immense attention in the medical and healthcare fields because of the high transmission rates and difficulty in curing, including the recent COVID-19 issue. Nucleic acids are one of the attractive biomarkers to diagnose various viral-associated diseases precisely. Recently, the target nucleic acid-dependent trans-activating phenomenon of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas has shown huge potential for developing sensitive and selective biosensors to detect targeted nucleic acids. However, the nucleic acid amplification steps are conventionally required for sensitive and selective monitoring of the target nucleic acid, requiring multistep reactions, expensive reagents, well-trained personnel, and sophisticated instrumentation.
Stem cell functions and fates are dynamically orchestrated by various biomolecular as well as physical signals in a spatially and temporally controlled manner. Achieving precise control of stem cell fates and functions is of great significance for studying physiological mechanisms, identifying pathogenic pathways, and developing enhanced treatments of devastating diseases. To better investigate and further regulate these complex biological processes, photo-responsive nanomaterials have gained increasing research interests for achieving cell behavior control due to their exceptional photo-physical properties. Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have gained extensive attention as near-infrared (NIR)-responsive nanomaterials owing to excellent photostability, minimal tissue scattering, and especially anti-stokes ultraviolet (UV) as well as visible emissions, showing great potential in various applications.
Scientists can turn proteins into never-ending patterns that look like flowers, trees or snowflakes, a technique that could help engineer a filter for tainted water and human tissues.
Stem cells have attracted increasing research interest in the field of regenerative medicine because of their unique ability to differentiate into multiple cell lineages. However, controlling stem cell differentiation efficiently and improving the current destructive characterization methods for monitoring stem cell differentiation are the critical issues.
Chemoresistance is a major challenge facing the effective treatment of cancers. To overcome resistance to chemotherapy, microRNA (miRNA), which are short (20−22 nucleotides) noncoding RNA molecules, has shown to be an attractive strategy. A growing body of evidence shows that modulation of miRNA levels in cancer can mitigate the development and progression of cancer. 
Seeking a better way to capture radioactive iodides in spent nuclear reactor fuel, Rutgers–New Brunswick scientists have developed an extremely efficient “molecular trap” that can be recycled and reused.
The construction of stimulus-responsive supramolecular complexes of metabolic pathway enzymes, inspired by natural multi-enzyme assemblies (metabolons), provides an attractive avenue for efficient and spatio-temporally controllable one-pot biotransformations.
