Cells as advanced therapeutics: State-of-the-art, challenges, and opportunities in large scale biomanufacturing of high-quality cells for adoptive immunotherapies.

Therapeutic cells hold tremendous promise in treating currently incurable, chronic diseases since they perform multiple, integrated, complex functions in vivo compared to traditional small-molecule drugs or biologics. However, they also pose significant challenges as therapeutic products because (a) their complex mechanisms of actions are difficult to understand and (b) low-cost bioprocesses for large-scale, reproducible manufacturing of cells have yet to be developed. Immunotherapies using T cells and dendritic cells (DCs) have already shown great promise in treating several types of cancers, and human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) are now extensively being evaluated in clinical trials as immune-modulatory cells.

3D microvascular model recapitulates the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma tumor microenvironment in vitro.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive cancer that affects ∼22 000 people in the United States yearly. Understanding the complex cellular interactions of the tumor microenvironment is critical to the success and development of DLBCL treatment strategies. In vitro platforms that successfully model the complex tumor microenvironment without introducing the variability of in vivo systems are vital for understanding these interactions.

Mechanisms of greater cardiomyocyte functions on conductive nanoengineered composites for cardiovascular application.

Background: Recent advances in nanotechnology (materials with at least one dimension between 1 nm and 100 nm) have led to the use of nanomaterials in numerous medical device applications. Recently, nanomaterials have been used to create innovative biomaterials for cardiovascular applications. Specifically, carbon nanofibers (CNF) embedded in poly(lactic-co-glycolic-acid) (PLGA) have been shown to promote cardiomyocyte growth compared with conventional polymer substrates, but the mechanisms involved in such events remain unknown.

In situ structural characterization of a recombinant protein in native Escherichia coli membranes with solid-state magic-angle-spinning NMR.

The feasibility of using solid-state magic-angle-spinning NMR spectroscopy for in situ structural characterization of the LR11 (sorLA) transmembrane domain (TM) in native Escherichia coli membranes is presented. LR11 interacts with the human amyloid precursor protein (APP), a central player in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. The background signals from E.