Mind In Vitro Platforms: Versatile, Scalable, Robust, and Open Solutions to Interfacing with Living Neurons.

Motivated by the unexplored potential of in vitro neural systems for computing and by the corresponding need of versatile, scalable interfaces for multimodal interaction, an accurate, modular, fully customizable, and portable recording/stimulation solution that can be easily fabricated, robustly operated, and broadly disseminated is presented. This approach entails a reconfigurable platform that works across multiple industry standards and that enables a complete signal chain, from neural substrates sampled through micro-electrode arrays (MEAs) to data acquisition, downstream analysis, and cloud storage. Built-in modularity supports the seamless integration of electrical/optical stimulation and fluidic interfaces.

Disorder to order transition in cell-ECM systems mediated by cell-cell collective interactions.

Cells in functional tissues execute various collective activities to achieve diverse ordered processes including wound healing, organogenesis, and tumor formation. How a group of individually operating cells initiate such complex collective processes is still not clear. Here, we report that cells in 3D extracellular matrix (ECM) initiate collective behavior by forming cell-ECM network when the cells are within a critical distance from each other.

Empowering engineered muscle in biohybrid pump by extending connexin 43 duration with reduced graphene oxides.

Engineered skeletal muscle act as therapeutics invaluable to treat injured or diseased muscle and a "living" material essential to assemble biological machinery. For normal development, skeletal myoblasts should express connexin 43, one of the gap junction proteins that promote myoblast fusion and myogenesis, during the early differentiation stage. However, myoblasts cultured in vitro often down-regulate connexin 43 before differentiation, limiting myogenesis and muscle contraction.

Comparison of Mortality Rates in Patients Waiting for Liver Transplant and Patients With Colorectal Metastatic Tumors.

Objectives: We aimed to identify outcomes of liver surgery in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal cancer, which result in primary and secondary liver tumors.

Materials And Methods: Our study included 51 patients with colorectal cancer and liver metastases and 63 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who were prepared for liver transplant due to cirrhosis who underwent hepatic resection or local ablation treatments; patients were seen between January 2011 and December 2021.

Results: Most patients with colorectal cancer were men (58.

Principles for the design of multicellular engineered living systems.

Remarkable progress in bioengineering over the past two decades has enabled the formulation of fundamental design principles for a variety of medical and non-medical applications. These advancements have laid the foundation for building multicellular engineered living systems (M-CELS) from biological parts, forming functional modules integrated into living machines. These cognizant design principles for living systems encompass novel genetic circuit manipulation, self-assembly, cell-cell/matrix communication, and artificial tissues/organs enabled through systems biology, bioinformatics, computational biology, genetic engineering, and microfluidics.

Compliant 3D frameworks instrumented with strain sensors for characterization of millimeter-scale engineered muscle tissues.

Tissue-on-chip systems represent promising platforms for monitoring and controlling tissue functions in vitro for various purposes in biomedical research. The two-dimensional (2D) layouts of these constructs constrain the types of interactions that can be studied and limit their relevance to three-dimensional (3D) tissues. The development of 3D electronic scaffolds and microphysiological devices with geometries and functions tailored to realistic 3D tissues has the potential to create important possibilities in advanced sensing and control.

Development of an objective index, neural activity score (NAS), reveals neural network ontogeny and treatment effects on microelectrode arrays.

Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are valuable tools for electrophysiological analysis, providing assessment of neural network health and development. Analysis can be complex, however, requiring intensive processing of large data sets consisting of many activity parameters, leading to information loss as studies subjectively report relatively few metrics in the interest of simplicity. In screening assays, many groups report simple overall activity (i.

Phase imaging with computational specificity (PICS) for measuring dry mass changes in sub-cellular compartments.

Due to its specificity, fluorescence microscopy has become a quintessential imaging tool in cell biology. However, photobleaching, phototoxicity, and related artifacts continue to limit fluorescence microscopy's utility. Recently, it has been shown that artificial intelligence (AI) can transform one form of contrast into another.

Performance of fabrics for home-made masks against the spread of COVID-19 through droplets: A quantitative mechanistic study.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) may spread through respiratory droplets released by infected individuals during coughing, sneezing, or speaking. Given the limited supply of professional respirators and face masks, the U.S.

Development of 3D neuromuscular bioactuators.

Neuronal control of skeletal muscle bioactuators represents a critical milestone toward the realization of future biohybrid machines that may generate complex motor patterns and autonomously navigate through their environment. Animals achieve these feats using neural networks that generate robust firing patterns and coordinate muscle activity through neuromuscular units. Here, we designed a versatile 3D neuron-muscle co-culture platform to serve as a test-bed for neuromuscular bioactuators.

Engineering geometrical 3-dimensional untethered in vitro neural tissue mimic.

Formation of tissue models in 3 dimensions is more effective in recapitulating structure and function compared to their 2-dimensional (2D) counterparts. Formation of 3D engineered tissue to control shape and size can have important implications in biomedical research and in engineering applications such as biological soft robotics. While neural spheroids routinely are created during differentiation processes, further geometric control of in vitro neural models has not been demonstrated.

Cell-to-cell influence on growth in large populations.

Recent studies have revealed the importance of outlier cells in complex cellular systems. Quantifying heterogeneity in such systems may lead to a better understanding of organ engineering, microtumor growth, and disease models, as well as more precise drug design. We used the ability of quantitative phase imaging to perform long-term imaging of cell growth to estimate the "influence" of cellular clusters on their neighbors.

Neuromuscular actuation of biohybrid motile bots.

The integration of muscle cells with soft robotics in recent years has led to the development of biohybrid machines capable of untethered locomotion. A major frontier that currently remains unexplored is neuronal actuation and control of such muscle-powered biohybrid machines. As a step toward this goal, we present here a biohybrid swimmer driven by on-board neuromuscular units.

A novel technique for in situ uniaxial tests of self-assembled soft biomaterials.

We introduce a novel method to form 3D biomimetic tissues from a droplet of a cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) mixture on a sensor stage and to quantify tissue force and stiffness as a function of time under optical microscopes. This method exploits advances in micro-nano fabrication and capillarity for self-assembly and self-alignment of tissues on the stage. It allows simultaneous investigation of the microstructure of the tissue in situ while its mechanical response is quantified, thus linking tissue biophysics with physiology and revealing structural-functional properties of 3D tissues.

Biohybrid valveless pump-bot powered by engineered skeletal muscle.

Pumps are critical life-sustaining components for all animals. At the earliest stages of life, the tubular embryonic heart works as a valveless pump capable of generating unidirectional blood flow. Inspired by this elementary pump, we developed an example of a biohybrid valveless pump-bot powered by engineered skeletal muscle.

Laparoscopic spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy for a primary hydatid cyst mimicking a mucinous cystic neoplasia.

Pancreatic hydatid cysts are fairly rare. The disease can be encountered concurrently with systemic involvement or as an isolated pancreatic involvement. We report the first case of spleen-preserving laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy for a pancreatic hydatid cyst.

Air leak syndrome after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: a rare and fatal complication.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a state of the art diagnostic and therapeutic procedure for various pancreatic and biliary problems. In spite of the well-established safety of the procedure, there is still a risk of complications such as pancreatitis, cholangitis, bleeding and perforation. Air leak syndrome has rarely been reported in association with ERCP and the optimal management of this serious condition can be difficult to establish.