Biofabrication and biomanufacturing in Ireland and the UK.

As we navigate the transition from the Fourth to the Fifth Industrial Revolution, the emerging fields of biomanufacturing and biofabrication are transforming life sciences and healthcare. These sectors are benefiting from a synergy of synthetic and engineering biology, sustainable manufacturing, and integrated design principles. Advanced techniques such as 3D bioprinting, tissue engineering, directed assembly, and self-assembly are instrumental in creating biomimetic scaffolds, tissues, organoids, medical devices, and biohybrid systems.

Fabrication, sustainability, and key performance indicators of bioelectronics via fiber building blocks.

Bioelectronics provide efficient information exchange between living systems and man-made devices, acting as a vital bridge in merging the domains of biology and technology. Using functional fibers as building blocks, bioelectronics could be hierarchically assembled with vast design possibilities across different scales, enhancing their application-specific biointegration, ergonomics, and sustainability. In this work, the authors review recent developments in bioelectronic fiber elements by reflecting on their fabrication approaches and key performance indicators, including the life cycle sustainability, environmental electromechanical performance, and functional adaptabilities.

Rianú: Multi-tissue tracking software for increased throughput of engineered cardiac tissue screening.

Background: The field of tissue engineering has provided valuable three-dimensional species-specific models of the human myocardium in the form of human Engineered Cardiac Tissues (hECTs) and similar constructs. However, hECT systems are often bottlenecked by a lack of openly available software that can collect data from multiple tissues at a time, even in multi-tissue bioreactors, which limits throughput in phenotypic and therapeutic screening applications.

Methods: We developed Rianú, an open-source web application capable of simultaneously tracking multiple hECTs on flexible end-posts.

Adult human cardiac stem cell supplementation effectively increases contractile function and maturation in human engineered cardiac tissues.

Background: Delivery of stem cells to the failing heart is a promising therapeutic strategy. However, the improvement in cardiac function in animal studies has not fully translated to humans. To help bridge the gap between species, we investigated the effects of adult human cardiac stem cells (hCSCs) on contractile function of human engineered cardiac tissues (hECTs) as a species-specific model of the human myocardium.

Cardiac Tissue Engineering Models of Inherited and Acquired Cardiomyopathies.

The lack of biomimetic in vitro models of the human heart has posed a critical barrier to progress in the field of modeling cardiac disease. Human engineered cardiac tissues (hECTs)-autonomous, beating structures that recapitulate key aspects of native cardiac muscle physiology-offer an attractive alternative to traditional in vitro models. Here we describe the use of hECTs to advance our understanding and modeling of cardiac diseases in order to test therapeutic interventions, with a focus on contractile dysfunction in the setting of inherited and acquired forms of cardiomyopathies.

Exosomal microRNA-21-5p Mediates Mesenchymal Stem Cell Paracrine Effects on Human Cardiac Tissue Contractility.

Rationale: The promising clinical benefits of delivering human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) for treating heart disease warrant a better understanding of underlying mechanisms of action. hMSC exosomes increase myocardial contractility; however, the exosomal cargo responsible for these effects remains unresolved.

Objective: This study aims to identify lead cardioactive hMSC exosomal microRNAs to provide a mechanistic basis for optimizing future stem cell-based cardiotherapies.